Canadian operating room nursing journal
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Approximately one to three per cent of pregnant women undergo surgery that is unrelated to their pregnancy. In Canada this represents about 5,000 patients each year that present unique challenges to the perioperative nurse and the entire surgical team. Approximately five to ten per cent of these patients are involved in trauma, which causes 46.3% of maternal deaths. ⋯ This decreases to less than five per cent in the second and third trimesters. Pre-term labor presents the greatest risk in the second and third trimesters. The most common need for surgery in pregnancy is associated with appendicitis, biliary tract disease, intestinal obstruction, urinary calculi and trauma.