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Nitrous Oxide and Neuraxial Labor Analgesia Use on Maternal Fetal Outcomes

Withdrawn
Conditions
Pregnancy
Interventions
Procedure: Neuraxial analgesia
Registration Number
NCT04813874
Lead Sponsor
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate maternal and neonatal outcomes in parturients who used nitrous oxide and neuraxial labor analgesia during labor.

Detailed Description

The use of nitrous oxide during labor is common in several countries including the United Kingdom, Finland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.1, 2 The use of nitrous oxide during labor has undergone a resurgence in popularity recently in the United States and became available at Brigham and Women's hospital in August 2014.

Inhaled nitrous oxide has a rapid onset (30-50 seconds) and clearance with a half-life of about 5 minutes.3 It can be used for analgesia during the first, second and third stages of labor, as well as during post-delivery procedures such as laceration repair, manual removal of the placenta, and uterine curettage. It is also commonly used to facilitate the initiation of epidural analgesia.4 At the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a pneumatically driven gas mixer is designed to deliver a 50% oxygen and 50% nitrous oxide mixture to patients. Nitrous oxide passes readily across the placenta, and reaches equilibrium within a few minutes; the fetal maternal concentration ratio after 2 minutes of inhalation is 0.64.5 Hence, when administered at 50% concentration to the mother, the fetal concentration approximates at 32%.

Despite its long track record of maternal safety reported in numerous countries, the effect of nitrous oxide on the fetus is less well-studied. A number of studies have published data on the use of nitrous oxide for labor analgesia, including the effectiveness in labor analgesia, maternal satisfaction and maternal fetal adverse effects. Most of these studies have not identified adverse neonatal outcomes. However, these studies used Apgar scores or neonatal behavior scores as outcome measures and the quality of these studies was predominately poor.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate maternal and neonatal outcomes in parturients who used nitrous oxide and neuraxial labor analgesia during labor.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
WITHDRAWN
Sex
Female
Target Recruitment
Not specified
Inclusion Criteria
  • Pregnant patients requesting for pain relief with neuraxial analgesia and/or nitrous oxide
  • health patients with no comorbidities
  • singleton, vertex gestation at term
Exclusion Criteria
  • Refuse informed consent
  • evidence of anticipated fetal anomalies
  • significant medical or pregnancy-related diseases

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
NO2 and neuraxial analgesiaNeuraxial analgesiaReceiving nitrous oxide and neuraxial analgesia for labor
neuraxial analgesia onlyNitrous OxideReceiving neuraxial analgesia only for labor
NO2 and neuraxial analgesiaNitrous OxideReceiving nitrous oxide and neuraxial analgesia for labor
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Fetal and Neonatal OutcomesAt 10 minutes following birth

Presence of Apgar Score \< 7 (0-10)

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Maternal OutcomeAt Delivery

Mode of Delivery (Vaginal or Cesarean Delivery)

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