Abstract

Five hundred consecutive births in which continuous lumbar epidural block was used for analgesia were reviewed retrospectively. We wished to evaluate the safety and practicality of this anesthetic technic as done by practicing obstetricians in a predominately private practice. Although many of the results confirmed those of previous studies, the most important findings were that the cesarean section rate was no higher than in the total obstetric population during the study period and that there was a high incidence of forceps usage in patients who had epidural analgesia. There was no maternal mortality, low maternal morbidity, and complications were not serious. Perinatal morbidity was not increased despite the high incidence of forceps deliveries. Continuous lumbar epidural analgesia was shown to be an effective and safe anesthetic technic for use by practicing obstetricians.