Efficacy of Ropivacaine injection at acupoints for labor analgesia and its effect on breastfeeding and serum prolactin

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy of acupoint injection of Ropivacaine for labor analgesia and its effect on breastfeeding and prolactin secretion. A total of 80 primipara who asked to receive labor analgesia were randomized into epidural analgesia group (n＝35) and acupoint injection group (n＝36), and other 36 primipara who refused to receive labor analgesia were subjected to the control group. The labor analgesia began to be performed when the puerpera's uterine orifice opened about ≥3 cm (the first stage of labor), including puerpera controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA, Sufentainil ＋ 0.1% Ropivacaine hydrochloride, 5 µg/mL at L3-L4 interspace, till the birth of fetus) or acupoint injection of Ropivacaine (0.2%, 1 mL/acupoint) at bilateral Hegu (LI4) and Sanyinjiao (SP6). The delivery situations such as the duration of labor, and number of cases who used oxytocin, obstetric-forceps-aided delivery, cesarean delivery were recorded. The serum prolactin concentration was assayed by using ELISA. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at the time points of T0 (about 3 cm widening of the orifice of uterus and before performing analgesia), T1 (30 min after labor analgesia), T2(about 10 cm widening of the orifice of uterus) and T3(coming out of fetal head). The duration of labor, ratio of use of oxytocin, onset time of breastfeeding, and times of breastfeeding within 24 postpartum hours were recorded accordingly. The VAS scores at time-points of T1, T2 and T3 were significantly lower in both epidural analgesia and acupoint injection groups in comparison with their own T0 and the control group (P<0.05), and were also considerably higher in the acupoint injection group than in the epidural analgesia group (P<0.05). The duration of the 2nd stage of labor (from complete opening of the uterus orifice to complete birth of the fetus) was significantly longer, (P<0.05) and the number of oxytocin-using puerpera was obviously bigger in the epidural analgesia group than in the control group (P<0.05). After partum, the 1st breastfeeding time was obviously earlier and the frequency of breastfeeding notably increased in both epidural analgesia and acupoint injection groups than in the control group (P<0.05), the serum prolactin content was remarkably higher in the acupoint injection group than in the epidural analgesia group (P<0.05). No significant differences were found between the acupoint injection and the control groups in the duration of the 1st and 2nd stages of labor, and in the numbers of oxytocin-using puerpera, obstetric forceps-aided birth and cesarean delivery (P>0.05), and between the epidural analgesia group and control group in the serum prolactin levels (P>0.05)．. Injection of Ropivacaine at LI4 and SP6 is effective for labor analgesia and raising prolactin level, and favorable to breastfeeding in the early postpartum period.