Evaluation of Regional Distribution of Ventilation During Labor With or Without Epidural Analgesia
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
With an efficient epidural analgesia the physiological effects of pain are disabled during
labor. Pain may cause an increase of minute volume, oxygen consumption and a decrease of
paCO2 (Arterial CO2 pressure). The study will evaluate the lung function before and after
labor with and without epidural analgesia. With more efficient breathing, the occurence of
atelectasis should be reduced; this effect will be investigated in these settings for the
first time with the electrical impedance tomography, which is a completely non-invasive
measure.