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Clinical TherapeuticsFree Preview

Epidural Analgesia for Labor and Delivery

List of authors.
  • Joy L. Hawkins, M.D.

A 30-year-old pregnant woman is undergoing induction of labor and is experiencing severe pain despite intravenous opioid administration. Epidural analgesia is recommended. Epidural analgesia involves the injection of a local anesthetic agent and an opioid analgesic agent into the lumbar epidural space. These agents diffuse across the dura and act on the spinal nerve roots. Rates of cesarean delivery are not increased with epidural analgesia.

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Funding and Disclosures

Disclosure forms provided by the author are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Hawkins at the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, 12631 E. 17th Ave., Mail Stop 8203, Aurora, CO 80045, or at .

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