[Peridural anesthesia with a bupivacaine-fentanyl combination. Effects on uterine contractility]

One hundred-and-four induced labours were monitored with extra-amniotic open-ended tocography. In every case, anaesthesia was epidural, using both Bupivacaine and Fentanyl. In most cases, uterine contractility was not changed by this type of anaesthesia. Four cases of hypertonia, nevertheless, were observed immediately after the epidural was injected with large dips in the recordings of the fetal cardiac rate. Hypertonia lasted for no longer than seven minutes and no consequences for children were observed at the time of birth.