Epigastric pain after intravenous administration of oxytocin in patients undergoing lower segment cesarean section: A quasi experimental study comparing intravenous bolus with infusion technique

Abstract

Aim: To compare the frequency of epigastric pain and uterotonic effect of an equivalent dose of oxytocin administered as an intravenous bolus versus intravenous infusion during elective LSCS under spinal anesthesia.
 Methodology: We recruited 98 parturients undergoing elective LSCS under spinal anesthesia for this prospective quasi experimental study and divided them into two groups. Group-A received 5 IU of oxytocin as bolus intravenous (IV) injection in 5 sec (bolus group, n= 48), and Group-B (infusion group, n= 50) received 5 IU of oxytocin as an infusion over 5 min. Any complaint of epigastric pain by the patients was noted and its frequency was compared between the two groups. The uterine tone was assessed as adequate or inadequate by an obstetrician. The data were entered into SPSS version 22. Patient demographic data were analyzed with independent samples T-test and the study data were analyzed with Chi‑square test and presented as n (%). p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
 Results: Epigastric pain was noted in 25 (52.03%) out of 48 parturients in Group-A and 15 (30%) out of 50 in Group-B (p = 0.026). There was no significant difference in the uterotonic effect of oxytocin between the two groups (p = 0.736).
 Conclusion: We conclude that oxytocin infusion is associated with lower frequency of epigastric pain in elective LSCS when compared to intravenous bolus of an equivalent dose of oxytocin, However, the effect on uterine contractions was adequate with both methods.
 Citation: Kashif A, Kiani RB, Shabbir SMA, Mahmood T, Sabir G, Fatima NE, Khan WA. Epigastric pain after intravenous administration of oxytocin in patients undergoing lower segment cesarean section: A quasi experimental study comparing intravenous bolus with infusion technique. Anaesth pain intensive care 2020;24(1):_
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.35975/apic.v2i1.
 Received – 20 February 2019;
 Reviewed – 4, 16 March, 25 June, 9 September, 2, 25 November, 10 December 2019, 7 January 2020;
 Revised – 19 June, 10 August, 29 September, 1 November 2019, 6 January 2020;
 Accepted – 10 January 2020;