研究发现分娩早期妇女也可安全进行硬脑膜外注射麻醉

根据一项麻醉学研究人员的最新研究发现：在分娩早期联合使用脊髓－硬脑膜外麻醉并不会增加剖腹产的比例。

这就意味着在将来，可以给分娩妇女进行更早期的止痛治疗，特别是第一次生产的母亲。研究结果还显示：与其它用药途径比如静脉内注射或者肌肉内注射相比较，联合使用脊髓－硬膜外技术能够产生更好的止痛效果并缩短分娩时间。

这项研究结果发表在2005年2月17日的《新英格兰医学期刊》上。这项研究的首席作者是Cynthia A. Wong医生，西北大学Feinberg医学院(Chicago, IL, USA)的麻醉学副教授。

由麻醉师实施的硬膜外或者联合使用脊髓－硬膜外麻醉阻断疼痛，主要是通过麻醉脊髓间隙内包绕脊髓的神经来完成的。仅仅在美国每年就有超过1500000患者接受脊髓或者脊髓－硬膜外联合麻醉方法。
 
Early Epidural for Women in Labor
 
Combined spinal-epidural analgesia during early labor does not increase the rate of cesarean delivery, according to a new study by anesthesiologists.

This means that in the future, pain relief may be available earlier for women in labor, especially for first-time mothers. The results of the study also showed that analgesia via the combined spinal-epidural technique resulted in better pain relief and a shorter labor when compared to pain medications administered by other routes such as intravenous or intramuscular injections.

The study findings were published in the February 17, 2005, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Lead author of the study was Cynthia A. Wong, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, IL, USA).

Epidural or combined spinal-epidural analgesia administered by anesthesiologists blocks pain by numbing the nerves around the epidural space that encases the spinal cord. Epidural or combined spinal-epidural analgesia is administered to more than 1.5 million each year in the United States alone.