Epidural levobupivacaine versus a combination of levobupivacaine and dexamethasone in patients receiving epidural analgesia

Interventions for the prevention or treatment of epidural-related maternal fever: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Epidural-related maternal fever in women in labour has consequences for the mother and neonate. There has been no systematic review of preventive strategies.

Methods

RCTs evaluating methods of preventing or treating epidural-related maternal fever in women in active labour were eligible. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, CENTRAL, and grey literature sources were searched from inception to April 2021. Two review authors independently undertook study selection. Data extraction and quality assessment was performed by a single author and checked by a second. The Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool was used. Meta-analyses for the primary outcome, incidence of intrapartum fever, were performed using the DerSimonian and Laird random effects model to produce summary risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).

Results

Forty-two records, representing 34 studies, were included. Methods of reduced dose epidural reduced the incidence of intrapartum fever, but this was not statistically significant when six trials at high risk of bias were removed (seven trials; 857 participants; RR=0.83; 95% CI, 0.41–1.67). Alternative methods of analgesia and high-dose prophylactic systemic steroids reduced the risk of intrapartum fever compared with epidural analgesia. Prophylactic paracetamol was not effective.

Conclusions

There is no clear evidence to support the use of any individual preventative or therapeutic intervention for epidural-related maternal fever. Further research should focus on understanding the mechanism of fever development to enable RCTs of potential interventions to reduce the incidence of intrapartum fever development and the subsequent disease burden felt by the neonate.

Clinical trial registration

CRD42021246929.

Low-dose spinal and opioid-free anesthesia in patient with Severe Aortic Stenosis and SARS-CoV-2 infection: Case report

The best anesthesiologic approach to severe AS patient has not been adequately studied in literature. Although the current guidelines have a cautious attitude in this regard, Combined Spinal-Epidural Anesthesia (CSEA) has proved to be a safe technique. Therefore, we would like to provide our experience with a severe AS and COVID-19 patient.