Comparison of Methods of Pain Relief during Labour: Epidural Analgesia, Intravenous Tramadol and TENS


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Volume :

3

Issue :

2

Abstract :

Background: Childbirth is a painful practice for nearly all women. The pain experienced during labour has various physiological and psychosocial measurements and its strength can vary greatly from one woman to another. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy, safety and adverse effects of epidural analgesia, tramadol and TENS in pain relief, mode of delivery and neonatal outcome. Methods: A total of 160 cases were studied. They included primi- as well as multigravidae, belonging to ASA grade 1 and 2 between the ages of 18-35 years, 37-41 weeks of pregnancy were selected. They were in established active stage of labor (uterine contraction 3 per 10 minutes, lasting for 30 to 40 seconds, cervical dilation more than 3 cm and up to 5 cm and cervical effacement more than or equal to 60%) with singleton fetus presenting by vertex and agreeable for analgesia. The selected patients were divided into four groups of Group I (control group, n=40), labour was carried out without using any analgesic technique, Group II (pidural Group, n=40) – Inj. bupivacaine 0.25% was given epidurally for analgesia, Group III (Tramadol Group, n=40) – Inj. Tramadol was given intravenously for analgesia, Group IV ( TENS group, n=40) – TENS electrodes were applied as the initial choice of pain relief. Results: From the observations gathered from this study, this can concluded that epidural analgesia provides much better analgesia than non-conventional methods of analgesia during labour. Conclusion: Tramadol and TENS have also a fair to good role in pain relief in labour, but mainly in first stage of labour when the pain is not severe enough.

Keyword :

Epidural Analgesia, Intravenous Tramadol, TENS.
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