Lidocaine Patch for Relief of Pain During Epidural Placement in Laboring Patients

Infiltration of the skin with lidocaine is standard practice prior to lumbar epidural
placement in laboring parturients1. Skin infiltration, although brief, can be very stressful
and painful for patients.2 This initial discomfort may cause patient anxiety, thus
increasing the pain and decreasing the satisfaction with the procedure. To reduce this
discomfort, various topical alternatives have been investigated with varying degrees of
success.1-4 Now that a topical mixture of lidocaine that is safe and effective is available,
the investigators would like to determine if it can reduce the pain of skin infiltration in
particular and epidural placement as a whole.