ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effect of epidural labor analgesia with different concentra-tions of ropivacaine combined with sufentanil on fever. Methods A total of 104 healthy parturients, of A-merican Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ, with New York Heart Association gradeⅠ orⅡ, with body height 150-175 cm, weighing 50-90 kg, at 37-45 weeks of gestation, scheduled for elec-tive labor analgesia, were divided into 0. 075％ ropivacaine group ( group R1, n=51) and 0. 125％ ropiva-caine group ( group R2, n=53) by a random number table method. Epidural labor analgesia was performed with 0. 075％ ropivacaine plus 0. 25μg∕ml sufentanil and with 0. 125％ ropivacaine plus 0. 25μg∕ml sufen-tanil in group R1 and group R2, respectively, to maintain visual analog scale score<3. Body temperature was measured before analgesia ( T0 ) , at 30 min, 1, 3 and 5 h of analgesia ( T1-4 ) , immediately after de-livery and at 2 h after delivery ( T5,6 ) . Venous blood samples were collected at T0,3,5 to detect the concen-tration of interleukin-6 ( IL-6) in serum. The incidence of fever, plane of anesthesia, fluid infusion rate, consumption of sufentanil and ropivacaine, the number of increment of drugs and length of labor were recor-ded. Results Compared with group R1, the degree of increase in body temperature was significantly in-creased at T1-6 , the consumption of ropivacaine and concentration of IL-6 at T3 were increased in group R2 (P<0. 05). There was no significant difference in the rate of fever, plane of anesthesia, fluid infusion rate, consumption of sufentanil and ropivacaine, the number of increment of drugs or length of labor be-tween two groups ( P>0. 05) . Conclusion Epidural labor analgesia with different concentrations of ropiva-caine combined with sufentanil exerts no effect on fever, 0. 075％ ropivacaine induces less changes in body temperature of parturients than 0. 125％ ropivacaine, which is related to the lower concentration of IL-6.