Epidural Labor Analgesia

This book offers an in-depth examination of labor pain and analgesia with the aim of promoting natural childbirth without pain. All aspects of the subject are covered, including the latest techniques of delivering labor analgesia. Importantly, emphasis is placed on a holistic approach, detailed attention being paid to the humanization of childbirth and behavioral aspects in addition to evidence-based medicine. Potential future developments are also addressed, with discussion of opportunities that have yet to be realized. In order to ensure that the text is easily readable for trainees as well as established practitioners, chapters have been restricted to a manageable length and information is presented clearly and succinctly. Step-by-step tutorials and boxes highlighting practical points are used to clarify technical aspects. The authors include both well-established experts and young emerging professionals from various European countries, ensuring an intercultural perspective.

This book provides easy to follow guidance on how to manage emergency situations and common problems in obstetric anesthesia. The book provides different anesthetic recipes for obstetric procedures and describes challenges that will be encountered on a day-to-day basis. There are trouble-shooting chapters and ‘what to do lists’ for frequent dilemmas. The book covers obstetric-specific resuscitation and medical emergencies seen on the labor ward. Antenatal and postpartum complications relating to anesthesia are covered as well as issues that may arise during follow up of patients who have had neuraxial anesthesia during delivery. Quick Hits in Obstetric Anesthesia should be used as a cognitive aid for emergency cases and as a decision-making tool for urgent management plans. It is a guide to common problems and provides core knowledge to facilitate anesthesia care on labor wards for all grades of anesthetist.

The clinical practice of anesthesia has undergone many advances in the past few years, making this the perfect time for a new state-of-the-art anesthesia textbook for practitioners and trainees. The goal of this book is to provide a modern, clinically focused textbook giving rapid access to comprehensive, succinct knowledge from experts in the field. All clinical topics of relevance to anesthesiology are organized into 29 sections consisting of more than 180 chapters. The print version contains 166 chapters that cover all of the essential clinical topics, while an additional 17 chapters on subjects of interest to the more advanced practitioner can be freely accessed at www.cambridge.org/vacanti. Newer techniques such as ultrasound nerve blocks, robotic surgery and transesophageal echocardiography are included, and numerous illustrations and tables assist the reader in rapidly assimilating key information. This authoritative text is edited by distinguished Harvard Medical School faculty, with contributors from many of the leading academic anesthesiology departments in the United States and an introduction from Dr S. R. Mallampati. This book is your essential companion when preparing for board review and recertification exams and in your daily clinical practice.

This is the first text to systematically review the evidence for obstetric anesthesia and analgesia. Evidence-based practice is now being embraced worldwide as a requirement for all clinicians; in the everyday use of anesthesia and analgesia for childbirth, anesthetists will find this synthesis of the best evidence an invaluable resource to inform their practice. Contributions from anesthetic specialists trained in the skills of systematic reviewing provide a comprehensive and practical guide to best practice in normal and caesarean section childbirth. This book, coming from one of the world’s leading obstetric centers and the cradle of evidence-based medicine, is a much needed addition to the obstetric anesthesia literature.

This book represents a unique and substantial guide, and will bring anesthesiologists up-to-date on advances in the neuraxial technique and its applications in obstetrics. Today the epidural block is almost exclusively of interest to obstetric anesthesiologists, and how it is taught increasingly coincides with its applications in obstetrics. Since the classical, seminal textbooks by Bonica, Moore and Bromage, published in the 1950s and 60s, textbooks devoted solely to the epidural technique have become quite rare. Among more recent books, there are many excellent texts on epidural anesthesia or analgesia in obstetrics, but none are fully dedicated to the epidural technique, which is usually described in a few paragraphs or, at most, in a chapter. This highly detailed book, including videoclip on epidural technique, offers comprehensive coverage on epidurals; as such, it will appeal to all anesthesiologists, especially obstetric anesthesiologists.

This textbook provides an up-to-date summary of the scientific basis, assessment for and provision of anaesthesia throughout pregnancy and labour. It is divided into nine sections including physiology, assessment, complications and systemic disease.

The Essence of Analgesia and Analgesics is an invaluable practical resource for clinicians giving pain relief in any clinical setting, describing the pharmacologic principles and clinical use of all available pain medications. As well as detailed overviews of pain processing and analgesic theory, sections are dedicated to oral and panteral opioid analgesics, neuraxial opioids, NSAIDs, local anesthetics, anticonvulsant type analgesics, NMDA antagonists, alpha adrenergic analgesics, antidepressant analgesics, muscle relaxants, adjuvant medications, and new and emerging analgesics. The concise format of the chapters allows for quick and easy reading and assimilation of information. Enhanced by summary tables and figures, each chapter provides an overview of a particular drug, covering chemical structure, mode of activity, indications, contraindications, common doses and uses, advantages and disadvantages, and drug related adverse events. Key references are also provided. Edited by leading experts in pain management, this is essential reading for any clinician involved in pain management.