Clinical Research Directory

Maternal and Fetal Clinical Significance of Hypotension Following Labor Epidural Analgesia

The goal of this study is to learn how often blood pressure drops after an epidural for labor and how these drops may affect the parent and the baby. The study focuses on adults who give birth at term and choose to receive an epidural for pain relief. The main questions the study aims to answer are: How often does maternal blood pressure fall within 30 minutes after the epidural? When blood pressure falls, how often do participants need treatments such as fluids or medicines that raise blood pressure? Do changes in the baby's heart rate happen during this time, and do they need treatment? Are certain parent or labor factors linked to a higher chance of blood pressure drops? How often does an urgent cesarean delivery happen because of maternal low blood pressure or concerning fetal heart rate changes soon after the epidural? Participants will not be asked to do anything different from usual care. Researchers will: Review routine vital signs recorded before and after the epidural Review treatments given, such as IV fluids or blood-pressure-raising medicines Review the baby's heart-rate monitoring Record delivery information, including whether an urgent cesarean was needed This study does not change clinical care in any way. It uses information already collected during standard labor and delivery.

The Influence of Oxytocin on Intrapartum Fetal Well-being and Delivery Outcomes in Patients Receiving Epidural Analgesia

The aim of this study is to determine the influence of oxytocin on fetal well-being during labor in patients receiving epidural analgesia (ELA) with the use of cardiotocography (CTG) and doppler ultrasonography. CTG is a commonly used technique to monitor the fetal heartbeat and contractions of uterus during pregnancy and labor. The maternal-fetal doppler ultrasonography is a non-invasive method used for the pregnancy surveillance. Various psychological and psychosocial factors impact the perception of labor pain. Its intensity is described differently by each patient - some claim it to be the worst pain that they experienced during their lives. Usually, the labor pain is more severely experienced by the patients giving birth for the first time and those with induced labor. Nowadays, there are many non-pharmacological (e.g. acupuncture, massage, TENS) and pharmacological (anesthetic gas, opioids, ELA) methods of labor pain management. ELA is a regional anesthesia, in which the anesthetic drug is injected into the epidural space with the aim to block the pain experienced by the patient without impacting patients ability to move or push during labor. The safety of the procedure is well-discussed and documented in Cochrane review from 2018, which shows no adverse impact on the proportions of Caesarean section, long-term backache, or neonatal outcomes. It is considered to be a golden standard for labor pain management. Oxytocin is a well-known hormone used for the induction of labor and to stimulate the uterine contraction during labor. The impact of oxytocin alone on CTG pattern and maternal-fetal doppler ultrasonography is discussed in the literature. However, the cumulative effect of ELA and oxytocin remains unclear. Some researchers claim that ELA increases the frequency of uterine contractions and that the additional use of oxytocin leads to higher risk of uterine hyper-stimulation and unreassuring CTG patterns. Whereas the others state that ELA weakens the strength of uterine contractions leading to slow progression of labor and the need to use or increase the use of oxytocin. There are no data on how the cumulative use of oxytocin and ELA impacts the maternal-fetal flows during labor.