1/3. Anaesthetic management of aortic coarctation in pregnancy.We report two cases of aortic coarctation in pregnancy. The first was a 20-year-old nulliparous woman who underwent an aortic coarctation repair when she was 23 weeks old and subsequently developed an aneurysm at the site of initial repair. The second was a 20-year-old nulliparous woman with a severe uncorrected congenital aortic coarctation and upper body hypertension, who became pregnant whilst awaiting transcatheter dilatation of the coarctation. Antenatal care involved a multidisciplinary approach with obstetric, anaesthetic and cardiology input. Both parturients were delivered by elective caesarean section. A cautious, incremental regional anaesthetic technique was used, with no associated maternal or neonatal morbidity. Perioperative management focused on minimising haemodynamic disturbances. The management is discussed, together with the potential maternal and fetal complications of aortic coarctation in pregnancy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = pregnancy (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. acupuncture for acute postoperative pain relief in a patient with pregnancy-induced thrombocytopenia--a case report.A 39 year old woman, scheduled for elective caesarean section in her second pregnancy, developed thrombocytopenia. Therefore, at the time of surgery, spinal anaesthesia and non-steroidal analgesic drugs were avoided and she was given a standard general anaesthetic procedure including fentanyl 100 microg and morphine 10 mg. In the early postoperative period she received tramadol 100 mg and a further 10 mg of morphine. These drugs did not control her pain, but caused side effects--in particular nausea and retching. acupuncture to LI4 and PC6 on the right side produced dramatic pain relief within minutes.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.83333333333333keywords = pregnancy (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. cesarean section in a patient with familial cardiomyopathy and a cardioverter-defibrillator.PURPOSE: To describe the impact of maternal automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD) therapy on pregnancy outcome, and discuss the clinical rationale for regional anesthesia in parturients with AICDs. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 20-yr-old primigravida with a history of familial cardiomyopathy and AICD placement presented at 39 weeks gestational age for elective labour induction. Ultimately, the patient underwent a cesarean section for a failed induction. Her AICD was deactivated during the peripartum period, although the pacing function remained active as she had an underlying heart rhythm of less than 34 beat.min(-1). The patient had continuous electrocardiogram monitoring via an external defibrillating unit to which she remained connected by external defibrillator pads. Labour analgesia and surgical anesthesia were provided with a lumbar epidural dosed with varying concentrations of bupivacaine. This management resulted in an excellent maternal and fetal outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are being utilized more frequently in the obstetric population, and appear compatible with good fetal outcomes. Experience with the anesthetic management of these patients is markedly limited - primarily involving reports of general anesthesia for cesarean section. Epidural anesthesia, however, offers distinct advantages in this patient population including easy conversion from labour analgesia to surgical anesthesia, preservation of fetal-maternal hemodynamics, prevention of increases in plasma catecholamines due to labour or operative pain, and, finally, possible direct suppression of arrhythmias by pharmacologically-active plasma levels of local anesthetic.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.16666666666667keywords = pregnancy (Clic here for more details about this article) |