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Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Success of Ultrasound-Guided Neuraxial Anesthesia in Cases with Difficult Anatomy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Intrathecal dexmedetomidine improves epidural labor analgesia effects: a randomized controlled trial
Gehui Li1, Hao Wang2, Xiaofei Qi1
1Department of Anesthesiology, Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P.R. China.
Objective:
α2‑agonists and opioids have been used as intrathecal adjuvants to local anesthetics for several years, but the effect of intrathecal dexmedetomidine (Dex) or sufentanil combined with epidural ropivacaine in labor analgesia is not fully understood.
Methods:
A total of 108 parturient women receiving combined spinal-epidural labor analgesia were randomly divided into three groups. Group C received l mL saline (0.9%) intrathecally, Group D received 5 µg Dex intrathecally, and Group S received 5 µg sufentanil intrathecally. All parturient women then received 0.1% epidural ropivacaine and 0.2 µg/mL sufentanil for patient-controlled epidural analgesia with standard settings. The visual analog scale score, onset time, duration of intrathecal injection, local anesthetic requirements, and side effects were recorded.
Results:
The labor analgesia effects in Groups D and S were better than those in Group C. Groups D and S displayed significantly shorter onset times, longer durations of intrathecal injection, and reduced local anesthetic requirements compared with Group C. The incidence of shivering and pruritus in Group D was lower than that in Group S.
Conclusion:
Intrathecal administration of 5 µg Dex could improve epidural labor analgesia effects.This randomized controlled clinical trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Registry Center (ChiCTR-1800014943, http://www.chictr.org.cn/).
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