Study on the dose of bupivacaine for combined spinal- epidural anesthesia in caesarean section

Abstract

Although bupivacaine for combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSEA) in cesarean section is widely used ,its optimal dose in spinal anesthesia for cesarean section is still difficult to determine. There are four methods in the literature to make maternal hemodynamic parameters more stable and to lower incidence of side-effects while providing equally effective anesthesia.The four methods include a low dose spinal anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia, an adjusted dose of local anaesthetic for spinal anaesthesia according to body height and weight, epidural volume extension (EVE) by an epidural injection of physiological saline solution and a low-dose local anesthetic-opioid spinal anesthesia. The most optimal one among the 4 methocls are still worthy of further study. Key words: Bupivacaine; Combined spinal-epidural anesthesia; Caesarean section