Are labor epidural catheters after a combined spinal epidural (CSE) technique more reliable than after a traditional epidural? A retrospective review of 9153 labor epidural catheters

Background: The combined spinal epidural (CSE) technique may associate with a lower failure rate of epidural catheters compared to traditional epidural catheters. This may be significant for the parturients as failure of neuraxial analgesia has been associated with a negative impact on birth experience. Methods: In this one-year retrospective study, the failure rate of epidural catheters was compared between 3201 and 5952 epidural catheters after initiation of neuraxial analgesia by the CSE or traditional epidural technique, respectively. Parturient background information, labor parameters, and neuraxial interventions were collected from 9153 parturients. Failure was defined as replacement of a used epidural catheter by new regional analgesia procedures or general anesthesia during intrapartum cesarean delivery. The primary outcome was the failure rate of epidural catheters. The secondary outcome was the time from the initial analgesia intervention to the epidural catheter replacement and progression of labor during this time. Results: The CSE method was used at an earlier stage of labor, and the parturients were more often primiparous and undergoing induced labor. Earlier onset of analgesia, obesity, induced labor, anesthesiologist experience, and cesarean delivery were found to be significant cofactors for catheter failure. The unadjusted failure rate was 168/3201 (5.2%) and 223/5952 (3.7%) (OR 1.42 [1.16–1.75]) after initiation of analgesia by CSE or traditional epidural method. After controlling for the stage of labor, body mass index, induction of labor, and anesthesiologist's experience level, the adjusted OR for epidural catheter replacement was 1.04 (0.83–1.29) p =.736. The mean (SD) time until epidural catheter failure was 6.3 (4.4) and 4.0 (4.1) hours following initiation of analgesia by CSE or traditional epidural technique, respectively (p <.001). Cervical dilatation progressed from 4.3 (1.4) to 6.4 (2.1) cm and 5.1 (1.5) to 6.7 (1.7) cm between primary neuraxial analgesia and epidural catheter replacement. Conclusion: CSE technique was not associated with a better survival rate of epidural catheters for provision of analgesia or epidural top-up anesthesia for intrapartum CD. In addition, the time to replacement of the catheter was significantly longer when analgesia was initiated with the CSE technique. Maternal satisfaction scores were lower if catheters required replacement.