LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: INTRATHECAL CLONIDINE FOR CONTROL OF LABOR PAIN: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Intrathecal (subarachnoid) injections of clonidine for controlling labor pain still remain controversial. In a recent publication Belhadj Amor et al. report on their experience with combined spinal-epidural analgesia using a combination of subarachnoid bupivacaine, 2.5 mg, sufentanil, 5 μg and clonidine, 30 μg for labor pain1. The authors concluded that although intrathecal clonidine, 30 μg prolongs (labor) analgesia, it increases the incidence of (maternal) hypotension, and abnormal fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns, and its use is thus not recommended. This conclusion/recommendation might not be quite consistent with the findings and recommendations of other researches on the very same subject.