Studies
A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Effect of the Oxytocin Infusion Rate on Fetal Heart Rate Changes and Maternal Fetal Outcomes during the Initiation of Combined Spinal-Epidural Labor Analgesia
Anesthesia
Heart and Vascular
Electrophysiology
Healthy Subjects
Adult Subjects
Female Subjects
The reported risk of nonreassuring fetal heart trace following neuraxial analgesia is 3-23%. This variability may be due to fluid and oxytocin management prior to and during the initiation of neuraxial analgesia. The study hypothesis is that decreasing the oxytocin infusion rate by 50 % prior to initiation of combined spinal epidural analgesia will cause a reduction in the incidence of adverse fetal heart rate changes.