BREATH PENTANE CONCENTRATIONS DURING LABOR AND THE EFFECT OF EPIDURALANALGESIA ON THE PENTANE CONCENTRATION

Increased lipid peroxidation has been observed in pregnancy and partic ularly in precclampsia. Pentane, a by-product of lipid peroxidation, c an be measured in exhaled breath, and its measurement is considered a non-invasive method of assessing lipid peroxidation in vivo, We measur ed pentane levels in the breath of 36 healthy parturient women and exa mined the effect of epidural analgesia on the pentane level. Single-ex piratory breath samples were analyzed by gas chromatography. The breat h pentane level was higher during labor (4.88 parts per billion [p.p.b .], 95% confidence interval 3.25-6.51 p.p.b.) than before the inductio n of labor (3.10 p.p.b., 95% confidence interval 2.01-4.19 p.p.b.). Th ere was a significant decrease in the pentane level after the institut ion of epidural analgesia (2.27 p.p.b., 95% confidence interval 1.43-3 .11 p.p.b.). Our results suggest that labor may be accompanied by an i ncrease in lipid peroxidation, and epidural analgesia reverses this in crease.