Abstract

Background: Pain relief during labor, in addition to promoting maternal comfort, prevents the undesirable consequences of stress. Neuraxial techniques are accepted as the gold standard for intrapartum labor analgesia. In present study, we compared fentanyl 25μg alone versus fentanyl 20μg plus bupivacaine 2.5mg as intrathecal labor analgesia with regards to progress of labor at a tertiary hospital.
Material and Methods: Present study was single-center, interventional, randomized study, conducted in Pregnant females 20-30 years, Booked antenatal cases, primigravida, full-term, singleton pregnancies, vertex presentation, in  active phase of labor with a cervical dilatation of ≥ 4 cm with normal fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings, ASA status grade I/II.
Results: 60 parturients were enrolled in present study, randomly allocated into Group F (fentanyl 25 μg) & group BF (fentanyl 20 μg plus 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine 2.5 mg ).  Cervical dilation at time of entry in study (cm) on admission, Onset time of Labor Analgesia (min), Duration of Labor Analgesia (min), Oxytocin units used till completed second stage, Duration of active 1^st stage / 2^nd stage (min), Total Duration of labor (min),  Rate of cervical dilatation (cm/h), APGAR score (At 1 & 5 min) were comparable in both groups & difference was not significant statistically (p>0.05). VAS scores at (60 min, 120 min, 180 min, 240 min, 300 min were less in group FB as compared to group F, but difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Progress of labor, in pregnant women with intrathecal labor analgesia using fentanyl 25μg alone was comparable with fentanyl 20μg plus bupivacaine 2.5mg