Do Epidurals Placed at a Lower Level Improve Labor Analgesia?

Royal Victoria Hospital, Canada

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Labor Analgesia

Treatments: Procedure: epidural placed low; Procedure: high epidural

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00954317

SDR-08-052

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators wish to compare the analgesia provided by epidurals placed high in the lumbar spine versus epidurals place low in the lumbar spine.

Enrollment: 100 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• women in active labor

Exclusion criteria

• known contraindications to epidural analgesia
• moderate to severe systemic illness as evidenced by an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of 3 or higher.
• known abnormalities of the spinal column
• any neurologic illness
• multiple gestations, fetal abnormalities or fetal presentation other than vertex
• recent history of analgesic usage
• an inability to communicate in English or French
• Body Mass Index greater than 40
• patients in pain requesting an immediate epidural

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

100 participants in 2 patient groups

Low epidural

Active Comparator group

Description:

epidural placed in the lower lumbar vertebral column

Treatment:

Procedure: epidural placed low

high epidural

Experimental group

Description:

high epidural

Treatment:

Procedure: high epidural