Epidural anaesthesia and neural tube defects.

This is a retrospective record of the analgesic management during labour of 16 patients with spina bifida seen at Leicester Royal Infirmary Maternity Hospital between March 1994 and February 1996. The information highlights the potential difficulties in providing epidural analgesia for this patient group, and demonstrates how an antenatal pre-anaesthetic clinic can help to optimize pain management by providing the opportunity to formulate a realistic analgesic plan, which can be documented in the notes.