Patient-Controlled Epidural Anesthesia Cuts Anesthetic Use

However, overall maternal satisfaction with pain relief was similarly high in all three groups, and hourly pain scores did not differ.

An attendee noted that it is difficult to get anesthesiologists to change their practice and asked Dr. Haydon whether PCEA would be "a hard sell" given that the main benefit was simply reduced anesthetic use.

"The dollars aren’t going to be worth it in terms of the medication cost," he acknowledged, but if there were any reduction in cesarean section rate that would certainly be compelling.

Dr. Haydon did not report any relevant financial disclosures.