PEDIATRICS Vol. 55 No. 4 April 1975, pp. 533-536
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The Risks of Paracervical Anesthesia: Intoxication and Neurological Injury of the Newborn

Noel Guillozet M.D., F.A.A.P.1

1 University Center for Health Sciences Yaounde, Cameroun

Obstetrical pain during routine vaginal delivery has prompted many therapeutic approaches over the decades with agents gaining and losing favor. The risks of local anesthesia have seemed negligible and mishaps have seemingly been rare. Teramo and Widholm remarked in 1967 that paracervical block had become the most popular method of relieving obstetric pain during the first stage of labor over most of the world.1 It is now an even more popular choice in large and small hospitals in the United States, and the fact that it can be administered without an anesthetist by the obstetrician is certainly contributory.

The safety of local anesthetics in routine vaginal deliveries was questioned in a number of articles published between 1963 and 1968 describing paracervial block and epidural routes using several agents.2-5