Monday, September 19, 2005

Daytime epidurals rock!

Well...they at least appear to be more effective at blocking pain for longer lengths of time than epidurals administered at night. So says a new study (co-authored, coincidentally, by the anesthesiologist Peter Pan!).

Doctors found that the time of day an epidural is administered appears to affect its effectiveness. Part of the usefulness of this information, the doctors say, is that it can be factored into appropriate dosages.

"The right treatment given at the wrong time can be ineffective or create a crisis of escalating toxicity," wrote Dominique Chassard, M.D., and colleagues with Hotel-Dieu Hospital in France in an editorial accompanying the study. "Conversely, even a weak treatment, if given at the right moment, could prove surprisingly effective."

Also nice was that the "related article" that ran right alongside this one, was a feature about how doulas are a "risk-free alternative to relieving pain during childbirth."

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