Can Epidural Dexamethasone Reduce Patient-Controlled Epidural Consumption of Fentanyl and Levobupivacaine in Laboring Women? A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

The efficacy of a single bolus dose of epidural dexamethasone added to levobupivacaine–fentanyl combination for labor analgesia has not been studied. In this randomized double-blind controlled trial, we assessed the effect of epidural dexamethasone in reducing the hourly average consumption of epidural levobupivacaine–fentanyl combination in laboring parturients and to study its effect on pain score, maternal satisfaction, maternal and neonatal outcome.

Sixty adult ASA I-II single-gestation full-term primigravid laboring parturients with cervical dilation ≤ 5 cm were randomly assigned to two equal-sized groups. Combined spinal–epidural block was performed in all the parturients. After placing the epidural catheter in epidural space, 8 mg of preservative-free dexamethasone was administered to the dexamethasone group, and 0.9% saline to the placebo group. All parturients received continuous background infusion of 5 ml of 0.1% levobupivacaine with 2 μg/ml of fentanyl with the provision of patient-controlled bolus of 5 ml of 0.1% levobupivacaine with 2 μg/ml of fentanyl (lockout interval 15 min). The primary outcome measure was the hourly total consumption of levobupivacaine–fentanyl mixture. The secondary outcome measures were maternal satisfaction, pain score, maternal hemodynamic parameters, fetal heart rate, duration of second stage of labor, mode of delivery, Apgar scores and adverse effects.

Epidural dexamethasone significantly decreased average hourly drug consumption and the number of boluses in laboring parturients, thus providing epidural drug dose-sparing effect.