Articles: general-anesthesia.
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Fifty-three infants with neural tube defects and 97 with other major congenital abnormalities have been reviewed. In only one case did the mother receive an anaesthetic before or during pregnancy and this anaesthetic is unlikely to have played any part in the outcome. The anaesthetic history was recorded for 471 mothers who booked consecutively for their confinements. ⋯ The corrected annual incidence of anaesthesia was about 20% (14% related to fertility). There were no fetal abnormalities, but two miscarriages in the women anaesthetized during pregnancy. There was one abnormal baby delivered to a women anaesthetized more than 12 weeks before the last menstrual period.
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Obstetrics and gynecology · Mar 1987
Effect of type of anesthesia on blood loss at cesarean section.
Halogenated anesthetic agents have been used to supplement nitrous oxide during balanced general anesthesia for cesarean delivery to decrease maternal awareness. However, these agents can interfere with uterine contractility and hence have the potential to increase blood loss at the time of cesarean section. ⋯ Significantly more women whose balanced general anesthesia for cesarean section was supplemented with a halogenated agent (usually 0.5% halothane) versus those with a conduction or balanced general anesthetic required transfusion therapy, had a postpartum hematocrit less than 30 vol% and had a decrease in the pre- to postdelivery hematocrit of at least 8 vol %. The addition of halogenated anesthetic agents to a balanced nitrous oxide anesthesia for the purpose of decreased maternal awareness must be weighed against the risk incurred from the increased requirement for blood replacement and/or from postpartum anemia.