Author(s)

Nicole Maria Anna Adela Engel, Marc Van de Velde, Jan Gerrit Nijhuis, M. A. E. Marcus

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Foetal well-being during labour is of utmost importance. One of the ways to attempt to assess foetal well-being is by recording foetal heart rate (FHR). Loss of variability and deceleration patterns are known to be associated with foetal distress. Decelerations and foetal bradycardia have been described after any type of effective labour analgesia. This review addresses the questions if certain analgesic techniques and/or analgesics lead to clinically relevant FHR changes, what is their aetiology, and how we should manage these FHR changes.

Labour Analgesia, Foetal Heart Rate Changes, Epidural Analgesia, Combined Spinal Epidural, Intravenous Analgesia

Engel, N. , Velde, M. , Nijhuis, J. and Marcus, M. (2011) Labour analgesia effects on foetal heart rate. A mini-review. Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1, 113-120. doi: 10.4236/ojog.2011.13020.