King T
University of California, San Francisco 94143-0346, USA.
J Nurse Midwifery. 1997 Sep-Oct;42(5):377-88. doi: 10.1016/s0091-2182(97)00052-9.
Epidural anesthesia is used for relief of labor pain by 29% of women having hospital deliveries in the United States, a number that has doubled within the past 10 years. Although epidurals provide objective pain relief that is exponentially better than the other pain relief methods, there are many purported complications and side effects. This article reviews how epidurals work, summarizes the literature regarding complications, and presents some of the ethical dilemmas inherent in the use of this technology for labor.
在美国，29% 的产妇在医院分娩时会使用硬膜外麻醉来减轻分娩疼痛，这一数字在过去 10 年中翻了一番。尽管硬膜外麻醉能提供比其他止痛方法好得多的客观止痛效果，但仍有许多所谓的并发症和副作用。本文回顾了硬膜外麻醉的作用原理，总结了有关并发症的文献，并提出了使用该技术进行分娩时所固有的一些伦理困境。
