Bouvet L, et al. - Researchers performed this prospective cohort analysis in women (n = 53) in spontaneous labor who asked epidural analgesia, to evaluate if obstetric epidural analgesia from a low concentration of ropivacaine resulted in a significant alteration in cutaneous temperature, associated with sympathetic block detected by infrared thermography, at dermatomes C4, T4, T10, L2 and L5. They induced epidural analgesia using a bolus of 10–15 mL of ropivacaine 1 mg/mL and sufentanil 0.5 µg/mL, followed by continuous epidural infusion. Prior to and following the epidural bolus, they measured skin temperature by means of thermography. Verbal pain score > 3 at 60 min defined failed epidural analgesia. Findings revealed a significant rise in skin temperatures measured at T4, T10, L2 and L5 dermatomes, but not at C4, as well as significant variation in the alteration in skin temperature at T10 between failed (n = 3) and successful (n = 50) epidural analgesia. The possible utility of infrared thermography for the early diagnosis of successful obstetric epidural analgesia was suggested in this study.