Butorphanol in Labour Analgesia

Introduction: Labour is the process where uterine contractions lead to expulsion of product of conception through the vagina into the outer world. Labour pain is one of the most severe pains which has ever been evaluated and its fear is one of the reasons women wouldn't go for natural delivery. Delivery is a painful experience for all of the women except a few of them. The labor pain results from some physiological-psychological causes. Different pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods have been tried for pain relief in labour. The objective of this study is to see the effect of butorphanol injection in labour pain. Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in B.P. Koirala institute of health sciences. We observed 200 pregnant women meeting the inclusion criteria and giving the informed consent who were on 1 mg butorphanol i.m. at the onset of active stage of labour every 4 hourly and on demand. Pain assessment was done by Numerical Pain analogue scale measured from 1 to 10. Fetal heart rate monitoring was done according to the hospital protocol. Caesarean section was performed for obstetrical indication. Neonatal outcome was evaluated by on duty pediatrician and APGAR score were noted at 1 and 5 min. Results: The pain scores in first, second, third, fourth hour were (8.83 +/- 0.773), (9.84 +/- 0.544), (9.94 +/- 0.338), (9.6 +/- 0.298) respectively, where 1st and 2nd hour is statistically significant. Conclusions: Butorphanol is an effective labour analgesia without significant adverse effects on women and the neonatal outcome.