Comparison of analgesic effect of ropivacaine with alfentanil and sufentanil in labor

Introduction: To compare the efficacy of ropivacaine with alfentanil and sufentanil in labor analgesia. Materials and methods: 240 parturients nulliparous women who were requesting labor analgesia were enrolled in the double-blind study and randomly divided into two groups. Group alfentanil(A) received 15 mu g/mL alfentanil with 0.075% ropivacaine, and group sufentanil(S) received 0.4 mu g/ml sufentanil with 0.075% ropivacaine. Pain relief, duration of analgesia, the onset of epidural analgesia, the time of first urination after delivery, duration of stages of labor, delivery outcome, blood loss, neonatal Apgar scores, umbilical artery blood gas analysis and side effects, such as fever, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, pruritus, urinary retention were recorded. Results: Compared with the control group, The onset time of analgesia was shorter in group A( 8.7 +/- 2.7 VS 13.4 +/- 2.6, P<0.05), and the pain score in the group A was significantlysignificantly lower at 5 and 10 minutes after labor analgesia (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in neonatal Apgar score and umbilical arterial blood pH. Conclusion: Alfentanil and sufentanil have a similar analgesic effect in epidural labor analgesia. Alfentanil is associated with a faster onset of analgesia with no significant neonatal side effects.