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. 2012 Oct 17;2012(10):CD003401. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003401.pub3

1. Epidural techniques used ‐ initial dose and subsequent maintenance.

INITIAL DOSE Nil maintenance Immediate infusion Repeat boluses Repeat boluses Bolus/infusion Repeat boluses PCEA
    LA + opioid High‐dose LA Low‐dose LA Low‐dose LA/opioid Low‐dose LA/opioid  
Low‐dose bupivacaine < 0.25%       Abouleish 1991      
Traditional dose bupivacaine = 0.25%   Gomez 2001Ngamprasertwong 2007Tsen 1999 COMET 2001a
Cortes 2007
      Thomas 2005
Low‐dose bupivacaine < 0.25% + opioid Parry 1998Patel 2003a Bhagwat 2008
COMET 2001a
Goodman 2006
Skupski 2009
    Hepner 2000
Medina 1994
Zeidan 2004
Abrao 2009
Kartawiadi 1996
Nickells 2000
Cohen 2006
Price 1998
Sezer 2007
Van de Velde 1999
Vernis 2004
Traditional dose bupivacaine + opioid   Caldwell 1994 Roux 1999        
Test lignocaine + opioid Breen 1999
Dunn 1998
           

LA: local anaesthetic 
 PCEA: patient‐controlled epidural analgesia