[Painless labor and instrumentation].

This report is a retrospective study of painless labor and its relation to the instrumentation. It consists of 200 cases of primigravida in labor. In the study group, 100 consecutive cases of primigravida receiving painless labor was chosen and compared to another 100 consecutive primigravida in labor without receiving painless labor. We found that painless labor with epidural analgesia would decrease the rate of cesarean section, but increase the frequency of using forceps and vacuum for labor. The rate of normal spontaneous delivery is low as compared with those not receiving epidural analgesia for painless labor. However, painless labor bears no relation to the labor course nor discernible significance to the Apgar Score of the newborn babies. We strongly recommend painless labor to those poor pain tolerated primigravida.