Childbirth Pregnancy and Childbirth
Conditions
Interventions
1. Standard epidural
2. Mobile combined spinal-epidural
3. Mobile 'Boston' epidural.
Sponsors
Record Provided by the NHS R&D 'Time-Limited' National Programme Register - Department of Health (UK)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Female
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Women who have decided to have an epidural. Patient consent to take part in the trial can only be fully given at the time of deciding to have an epidural, but to avoid 'cold' decision making in labour an explanatory leaflet will be provided for all primiparae at the last routine hospital antenatal visit (approximately 34 weeks). Only primigravida will be recruited in order to make a meaningful comparison of obstetric performance, given the profound effect of parity on the main outcome measure, and to avoid 'contamination' of experience and recall of backache after previous deliveries.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Women who require regional block anaesthesia for an elective section or for imminent operative delivery will be excluded. Additionally, those who have contra-indications to spinal or epidural analgesia (e.g. coagulopathy, cardiomyopathy, valvular cardiac disease, abnormal vertebral anatomy, etc) or to any drug in the study will also be excluded.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Not provided at time of registration | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Not provided at time of registration | — |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed