| Abstrakt: |
Sedation and analgesia during the first stage of labor have been induced in more than 7,500 obstetric patients during a two and one-half year period by a regimen involving use of promethazine (25 to 100 mg. by deep intramuscular injection) and meperidine. The hospital charts of these patients have been compared with those of obstetric patients, during the two and one-half years before promethazine was used, with respect to maternal, fetal, and neonatal mortality, prematurity, duration of labor, and frequency of need for resuscitating the infant. The data showed that promethazine was a safe and effective tranquilizer, rendered labor less unpleasant, and reduced the need for those analgesics and anesthetics which have undesirable side-reactions. A shortening of labor was found and was particularly significant in uncomplicated primiparous cases. Resuscitation of the infant was almost never necessary. The average total dose of promethazine was 56.5 mg., and its effect in reducing the total amount of meperidine needed was convincingly demonstrated. |
