Regional anesthesia—typically with a spinal or epidural block—has long been favored for cesarean births due in part to concerns about the effects that general anesthesia may have on newborns during ...

A new study has examined whether epidural anesthesia can affect a baby’s health.

When it's time to have a baby, some women head to the hospital with a detailed birth plan that includes a request to avoid epidural anesthesia. Others think an epidural is the only way to get through ...

The BMJ offers more information on its effect in neonates ...

More than 40% of people in Australia who access pain relief during labour use epidurals. That amounts to around 92,000 epidurals a year. They’re also used for pain relief outside obstetrics. However, ...

New research links epidurals to a 35 percent lower risk of serious complications from childbirth, including blood clotting and sepsis. But doctors say it’s still okay to opt out. Recent observations ...

Heitor Medeiros, MD, and A. Sassan Sabouri, MD, of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, are the lead and corresponding authors, respectively ...