[Regulation of labor and analgesia during childbirth by electroanalgesia]

A new method of electroanalgesia is based on the use of pulse currents of high frequency (150 to above 750 Hz), with the mean current intensity of 1 to 2mA in the course of the session. The electrodes are applied in the frontal area (bifurcated catode) and the neck under the mastoid processes (bifurcated anode). Electroanalgesia was successfully employed in 360 cases to prepare pregnant patients for labour, regulate abnormal uterine activity and anaesthesize labour. Electroanalgesia accelerates cervical dilatation, eliminates discoordinated uterine activity by restoring the triple descending gradient of uterine contractions, and reduces labour duration. The parturient no longer exhibits vegetative shifts developing under the impact of emotional stress when the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic links of the vegetative nervous system is disordered, and the pulse, arterial pressure and respiration get stabilized. The labour is painless, which favourably tells on the maternal and fetal condition.