ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Childbirth has been recognised as the most painful experience known to women. This study aimed at studying the efficacy and safety of the single shot spinal analgesia for pain relief in labour. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and twelve parturients in labour were randomized into two groups of 55 paturients each. Group B received 2.5 mg of spinal plain bupivacaine only while Group BF had 2.5 mg plain bupivacaine with 25 gg of fentanyl. Onset of sensory block, time to achieve maximum sensory block, duration of sensory and motor block and the level of block were recorded. The need for oxytocin augmentation, instrumental delivery, neonatal Apgar scores and umbilical artery blood pH were recorded. RESULTS: The numeric rating pain scores for groups B and BF were significantly reduced from a mean prespinal score of 8.17 +/- 0.96 cm and 8.30 +/- 0.23 cm respectively to a mean post-spinal pain score of 0.23 +/- 0.45 cm and 0.09 +/- 0.47 cm respectively, p = 0.000. The mean duration of analgesia in Group B was 61.60 +/- 6.47 mins while it was 128.98 +/- 21.61 mins in Group BF, p = 0.000. CONCLUSION: The study showed that low dose spinal bupivacaine either alone or in combination with fentanyl is safe for labour analgesia, but the combination f bupivacaine with fentanyl provided much more prolonged pain relief
