The Effect of Combined Spinal-Epidural Analgesia on the Success of External Cephalic Version for Breech Position

At term 2 to 3% of singleton pregnancies are in breech presentation. Many of these deliveries are managed by cesarean delivery due to higher neonatal morbidity associated with vaginal breech delivery. Cesarean delivery, the safer option for the baby, however, is associated with a higher incidence of maternal complications for both the current and subsequent pregnancies. External cephalic version is a procedure commonly used to attempt to manually rotate the fetus into vertex position. This facilitates vaginal delivery and thus avoids higher maternal and/or neonatal complications.

Obstetricians perform versions after 36 weeks gestational age with a reportable success rate of 30-80%. The most common technique involves external manipulation of the fetal position preceded by pharmacologic uterine relaxation. Pain relief is most commonly provided in the form of intravenous opioids such as fentanyl. A more efficacious form of analgesia is the use of neuraxial opioids and local anesthetics (neuraxial analgesia), a technique commonly used for labor and delivery analgesia.

Although the use of neuraxial analgesia and anesthesia techniques improve maternal pain and satisfaction, there is conflicting evidence if they improve the success rate of version procedures. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has stated, "Currently there is not enough evidence to make a recommendation favoring or opposing anesthesia during ECV (external cephalic version) attempts."

We propose to conduct a prospective, single blinded, randomized clinical trial to assess the impact of combined spinal-epidural analgesia on the success rate of external version for breech fetal position and the subsequent incidence of vaginal vs. Cesarean delivery as a secondary outcome.