International journal of obstetric anesthesia
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Int J Obstet Anesth · Apr 1999
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialRegional anaesthesia for caesarean section in severe preeclampsia: spinal anaesthesia is the preferred choice.
Standard textbooks advocate epidural rather than spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section in severe preeclampsia. The basis for this recommendation is the theoretical risk of severe hypotension but no published scientific studies have been identified to support this assertion. We therefore designed a prospective study to compare spinal versus epidural anaesthesia in severely pre-eclamptic patients requiring hypotensive therapy. ⋯ By contrast in the epidural group three patients had mild pain and four others had pain severe enough to warrant intraoperative analgesia. There were no differences in neonatal outcomes. These findings support recent studies suggesting the safety and efficacy of spinal anaesthesia in this group of patients.
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A retrospective audit of obstetric epidurals was performed at Royal Surrey County Hospital. The aim was to determine the efficacy of epidural blood patch in the management of post-dural puncture headache following inadvertent dural puncture in the obstetric population, over a 5-year period between March 1993 and February 1998. ⋯ Following treatment with one epidural blood patch, 33% of patients obtained complete and permanent relief, 50% partial relief and 12% no relief. Twenty-nine percent of patients required a second epidural blood patch of which 50% were completely successful, 36% were partially successful and 14% gave no relief.
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Preeclampsia/eclampsia affects only a small proportion of all pregnancies, yet accounts for much of the obstetric morbidity and mortality seen in the USA and UK. A full understanding of preeclampsia/eclampsia, its variable presentation and complex pathophysiology allows the consulting anesthesiologist to optimize a plan for anesthetic management of the afflicted patient.