Lumbar epidural analgesia in labour in twin pregnancy.

Fifty twin pregnancies in which the mother received epidural analgesia in labour were compared with 92 in which the mother received standard parenteral analgesia. The duration of the first and second stages of labour; the incidence of assisted deliveries when the head presented; the proportion of breech extractions when either the first or second twin presented by the breech; the incidence of low Apgar scores; and the perinatal mortality were not significantly different in the two groups. These findings suggest that lumbar epidural analgesia is safe for providing pain relief in labour for patients with a twin pregnancy. Moreover, an epidural block is preferable to conventional analgesia in these cases as it allows prompt intervention to effect delivery of the second twin.