comparison of 0.1% ropivacaine and 0.1% bupivacaine with patient-controlled epidural analgesia for labor: a double blind study

ABSTRACT

Objective: Ropivacaine has been claimed to be superior for epidural labor analgesia, with less motor blockade and toxicity as compared to bupivacaine, and it has largely replaced the later drug for this purpose. The objective of this study was to compare and evaluate the analgesic efficacy of ropivacaine 0.1% and bupivacaine 0.1% with 2 microg/ml fentanyl for painless labor using patient-controlled epidural analgesia [PCEA]