[Labor analgesia in the US and Japan].

Obstetric anesthesia has made significant progress over the last 50 years. It is one of the major subspecialties in anesthesia in US. Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) was founded in 1968. According to its SCORE project on the practice of obstetric anesthesia, 82.4% of all parturients received some form of anesthesia for cesarean section or labor analgesia. Epidural analgesia was the most common form of labor analgesia (65%), followed by CSEA. This high percentage of anesthesia care for parturients mandates the presence of obstetric anesthesiologists at labor and delivery suites in major hospitals in US. The Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Anesthesia, formerly "Mutsu-bunben Kenkyukai", now called "Bunben to Masui Kenkyukai", was founded in Japan at about the same time as SOAP. Despite its long history, obstetric anesthesia is yet to be a major subspecialty in Japan. It is encouraging, however, that the number of attendants in obstetric anesthesia sessions in JSA seems increasing. SOAP has played an important role in the education and progress of obstetric anesthesia in US. I hope that the joint symposium of SOAP, Bunben to Masui Kenkyukai, and JSA at 39th SOAP annual meeting will facilitate the progress of obstetric anesthesia in Japan.