Clinical study on patient-controlled epidural analgesia

Objective To observes the clinic effect of Patient-controlled Epidural Analgesia (PCEA) in labor.Methods 300 ASA Ⅰ-Ⅱ nulliparous women who requested epidural analgesia were enrolled in our study (group E).PCEA were begun in the first stage of labor.Other 300 women with the similar conditions and spontaneous labor without any kind of labor analgesia method were selected into control group (group C).Analgesia was assessed by VAS score.blood pressure (BP),heart rate (HR),SpO2,respiratory rate,embryocardia,uterotonic intension,delivery mode,hemorrhage volume after labor and Apgar score of neonate were measured in both groups throughout the study.Results Among two sets of maternal patients,the BP,HR,respiration,oxygen saturation,fetal heart rate and contraction strength,lower limb activity and postpartum hemorrhage and neonatal Apgar scores were not statistically different (P＞ 0.05).The whole production process observation group VAS scores were significantly lower than those of the control group (P＜ 0.01).Analgesia can significantly shorten the active period of the first stage,the experimental group was (123 ± 68) minutes,while the control group was (205 ± 83) minutes (P＜ 0.01),and helps to reduce the cesarean section rate (P＜ 0.05).Conclusion The method of PCEA can provide good analgesia in labor without side effect to mother and neonate,it can be used safely in clinic. Key words: Epidural analgesia;  Patient controlled analgesia (PCEA); Labor