ABSTRACT
Background: In low- and middle-income countries epidural analgesia is generally not available and practically no form of labor analgesia is given to the majority of the parturient. The purpose of study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of tramadol as a labor analgesic during first stage of labor.Methods: Pregnant women admitted in the labor room satisfying the eligibility criteria were randomized to receive intramuscular injection of either 100 mg tramadol or 2 ml distilled water. Visual analogue score (VAS) was assessed at the beginning and every hour till 4 hours. Pain satisfaction, duration of second stage of labor, fetal heart rate, mode of delivery, and any maternal side effects of the study drug were recorded. Neonatal evaluation using Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes was done. For statistical analysis Student t-test, Chi Square test and Fisher’s exact test were used.Results: Total of 86 women were included in the study. The VAS scores were significantly lower in the tramadol group at 1, 2 and 3 hours after the administration. Pain relief satisfaction was significantly higher in the tramadol group. Rate of cervical dilatation, duration of the second and the third stage, need for instrumental delivery or lower segment caesarean section, rate of fetal distress and Apgar score at one and five minutes were comparable in both the groups. Nausea was significantly higher in tramadol group.Conclusions: Tramadol is a safe and efficacious drug which is inexpensive, easily available and easy to administer with few minor side effects. It can be used as a labour analgesic as an alternative to epidural analgesia in settings where epidural analgesia is not available. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov PRS registration number: NCT02999594.
ABSTRACT
Background: Cervical cancer is a disease which claims maximum number of deaths in developing countries. Objective of this study was to understand the reason for delayed approach to medical help in women with advanced carcinoma cervix.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Information obtained from women with carcinoma cervix clinical stage IIb and above with proven histopathological diagnosis was recorded in the predetermined format.Results: Almost all the subjects were illiterate and were from lower socioeconomic strata and rural areas. None of them knew about the disease and its symptomatology. About 82% of the patients were symptomatic since 5-10 years however took no medical care during the period and 2/3rd of them even did not reveal their problem to any of the family members. About 79% of the subjects had never used any contraception and none had knowledge about its role in preventing infection. Majority of them (98%) had no idea about the role of PAP smear in screening carcinoma cervix. All of them said if they had knowledge about the disease, they would have sought medical help much earlier.Conclusions: The most important reason for delayed approach in our study was found to be lack of knowledge about the disease. Therefore, till such time that we have national screening program in place, these women who are at high risk of developing carcinoma of cervix should be targeted and educated through mass media so that these women could seek medical help in early stages.