Chloroprocaine 3% - Epidural Anesthesia in Unplanned Caesarean Section

Labouring women who have an epidural catheter in situ and established analgesia, in need of an unplanned Caesarean section, will be randomly allocated to receive either Chloroprocaine HCl 3% (T-group) or Ropivacaine HCl 0.75% (R-group) epidurally. Prior to the epidural injection, the patient will be transferred to the operating theatre. The local anaesthetic solution will be freshly prepared and 20 mL will be administered by epidural injection, according to the standard hospital procedures, as detailed in the "Study Schedule" section below. Time T0 is defined as the start time of the first epidural injection of the investigational product. In case of pain or discomfort, a 6 mL epidural top-up of the same anaesthetic, i.e. Chloroprocaine HCl 3% in T-group and Ropivacaine HCl 0.75% in R-group, will be administered. The anaesthesiologist(s) administering the anaesthetic and collecting the data will be blinded with respect to the treatment given to each patient.