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NYU School of Medicine Expert Available To Comment on New Study Regarding Epidurals

NEW YORK, March 31, 2005 – Dr. Gilbert J Grant, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology NYU School of Medicine and an expert in obstetrical anesthesiology is available to discuss a study in the New England Journal of Medicine which found that there is no increase in C-sections when epidural analgesia is given early in labor.

This new study demonstrates not only that epidurals given early in labor (prior to 4 centimeters cervical dilation) do not increase the rate of cesarean section, but it also shows that when women get spinals and epidurals early, the duration of labor is shortened (by approximately 1 ½ hours).

According to Dr. Grant, who is the author of Enjoy Your Labor: A New Approach to Pain Relief for Childbirth, “It makes no difference to a woman in labor whether her cervix is two centimeters or six centimeters dilated: pain is pain! You should not be held hostage to your cervix, over whose dilation you have no control.” The study hopes to convince people that it is pointless to delay pain relief to a laboring woman.

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