Effect of Epidural Needle Injection on Catheter Placement Success During Painless Labour

Epidural analgesia is the gold standard for painless labour, but successful catheter placement can be technically challenging due to anatomical and physiological changes in pregnancy. Injecting saline or local anesthetic through the epidural needle before catheter insertion has been proposed to facilitate catheter advancement by dilating the epidural space. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of epidural needle injection on the success rate and ease of catheter placement during labour analgesia.

NCT Number	NCT07327918
Lead Sponsor	Al-Azhar University Collaborators: Benha University
Conditions	Labour Analgesia
Enrollment	216 participants
Start Date	2026-06-28
Primary Completion	2026-11-30 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-02-15 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-01-08