Combined Anesthesia for Labor and Maternal Temperature
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2010-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Maternal intra-partum fever commonly complicates the process of labour. Its occurrence is
often regarded as being synonymous with the presence of chorioamnionitis. This inevitably
results in the administration of antibiotics to the affected mother. Review of the literature
however suggests that this approach is not always appropriate. Non-infective causes of this
condition that are often overlooked include the use of epidural analgesia for pain relief,
normal thermal physiological changes in women not using any form of analgesia and delivery in
an overheated room. Women with certain risk factors such as nulliparity and a long latent
phase of labour are also more prone to developing maternal intra-partum fever. Irrespective
of its aetiology, maternal intra-partum fever carries risks both for the mother and her
unborn child. Putting more thought into the care of these patients will go a long way in
reducing the maternal and neonatal morbidity associated with this complication.The combined
spinal-epidural (CSE) technique has been introduced in an attempt to reduce these adverse
effects. CSE is believed to during labour provide more rapid onset of analgesia than epidural
analgesia, The incidence of fever is significantly lower with CSE technique.
Phase:
Phase 3
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Instituto Materno Infantil Prof. Fernando Figueira