Intracutaneous Sterile Water Injections

Summary

For most women, the most significant pain they will experience is the pain associated with childbirth. Up to one-third of women experience "back labor", this typically occurs when the fetus assumes varying degrees of malposition, especially the occiput posterior position, and causes additional constant pressure against the maternal spine and pelvis. "Back labor" presents as constant pain, that occurs even between contractions. It is often difficult to manage, by the patient, the obstetrician, and the anesthesiologist, and may increase the rate of instrumental and caesarian delivery. Epidural anesthesia/analgesia is the most common and effective intervention used to help women cope with labor pain. Dilute concentrations of local anesthetic and opioid provide complete analgesia for most women. Some women, however, have breakthrough pain, often due to "back labor," and require more concentrated drug solutions. This increases the side effects associated with these drugs (e.g., hypotension, pruritus, motor block), thus treatment of this pain poses a challenge for the anesthesiologist and the obstetrician. Sterile water injections (SWI) are a simple and well-established method of managing labor pain among midwives. This intervention was first used to alleviate pain associated with kidney stones, and was introduced to obstetrics in the 1970s. Using a syringe, small amounts of sterile water is deposited subcutaneously near the sacral area. The sterile water causes osmotic and mechanical irritation resulting in a brief (15-30 second) and significant stinging sensation. The onset of pain relief follows almost immediately and may last for up to two hours. The procedure can be repeated a number of times. Sterile water for pain management is most often administered using four intracutaneous injections: two sites lateral to the lumbosacral spine and two sites 2-3 cm below and 1-2 cm medial to the original two injection sites. 0.1 mL of sterile water is injected between the dermal layers to raise a small bleb on the skin surface at each of the four sites. In labor, the injections are administered sequentially during a uterine contraction, with the series of four injections, performed two at a time, completed within 20-30 seconds. The investigators hypothesize that the use of sterile water injections in women with neuraxial analgesia with breakthrough pain will result in decreased local anesthetic requirements and increase patient satisfaction.

Timeline

Start

2011-12

Primary completion

2013-12

Completion

2013-12

Publications

• Background Creehan PA. Pain relief and comfort measures in labor. In: Simpson KR, Creehan PA, editors. AWHONN's Perinatal Nursing, 3rd edn. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008. pp. 444-72.
• Background Cervero F, Tattersall JE. Somatic and visceral sensory integration in the thoracic spinal cord. Prog Brain Res. 1986;67:189-205. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)62763-6. No abstract available.
• Background Bengtsson J, Worning AM, Gertz J, Struckmann J, Bonnesen T, Palludan H, Olsen PR, Frimodt-Moller C. [Pain due to urolithiasis treated by intracutaneous injection of sterile water. A clinically controlled double-blind study]. Ugeskr Laeger. 1981 Dec 14;143(51):3463-5. No abstract available. Danish.
• Background Odent M. [Letter: Lumbar reflexotherapy. Efficacy in the treatment of nephrotic colic and in obstretrical analgesia]. Nouv Presse Med. 1975 Jan 18;4(3):188. No abstract available. French.
• Background Huntley AL, Coon JT, Ernst E. Complementary and alternative medicine for labor pain: a systematic review. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Jul;191(1):36-44. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2003.12.008.
• Background Reynolds JL. Intracutaneous sterile water for back pain in labour. Can Fam Physician. 1994 Oct;40:1785-8, 1791-2.
• Background Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science. 1965 Nov 19;150(3699):971-9. doi: 10.1126/science.150.3699.971. No abstract available.
• Background Martensson L, McSwiggin M, Mercer JS. US midwives' knowledge and use of sterile water injections for labor pain. J Midwifery Womens Health. 2008 Mar-Apr;53(2):115-22. doi: 10.1016/j.jmwh.2007.09.008.
• Background Hutton EK, Kasperink M, Rutten M, Reitsma A, Wainman B. Sterile water injection for labour pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BJOG. 2009 Aug;116(9):1158-66. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02221.x. Epub 2009 May 14.
• Background Wong CA, McCarthy RJ, Hewlett B. The effect of manipulation of the programmed intermittent bolus time interval and injection volume on total drug use for labor epidural analgesia: a randomized controlled trial. Anesth Analg. 2011 Apr;112(4):904-11. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e31820e7c2f.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.