The use of epidural analgesia in elective lower segment caesarean section at North Okkalapa General Hospital

ABSTRACT

A prospective study on the use of epidural anaesthesia in lower segment caesarean section at NOGH was carried out on 41 patients who had been admitted to NOGH from the 1st May 1995 to the 30th April 1996. All the necessary preoperative assessments were done. Epidural analgesia, but using a combination of 0.5 per cent Marcaine and 2 per cent lignocaine was given. the mean duration of induction delivery period was 15 minutes, mean one-minute Apgar score was 7.95. About seventy three per cent (73.17 per cent) of the patients could start breast feeding soon after delivery in the operation theatre and the remaining patients could breast feed their babies soon after leaving the theatre. No serious complication was encountered apart from 7.3 per cent of the patients who had minor complications. The mean duration of postoperative analgesia was 10.46 hours and the mean pain score 1.6. Among these, 39.02 per cent did not require any post-operative analgesia, 39.02 per cent were relieved by placebo injection, 12.19 per cent by injection Diazepam, 7.33 per cent by injection volteran while 2.44 per cent required injection morphine.