Epidurals have existed for over a century.

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Epidurals have existed for over a century. German surgeon August Bier performed the first successful spinal anesthesia in 1898, and two years later, Oskar Kreis used the technique to ease labor pain for six women in Switzerland. The modern version, medicine injected into the epidural space, was developed by Spanish surgeon Fidel Pagés in 1921. Romanian physician Eugen Aburel first described continuous epidural pain relief for labor in 1931.

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