Airway changes during labor and delivery.

Background: There are no prospective studies that evaluated airway changes during labor. The purpose of this study was to evaluate airway changes in women undergoing labor and delivery.

Methods: Two studies were undertaken to evaluate airway changes during labor.

Recent advances in obstetric anesthesia.

The low-dose technique of combined spinal/epidural analgesia is to be welcomed in obstetrics. Its merits include rapid onset of analgesia, with the flexibility of an epidural technique, and high maternal satisfaction. It is a safe and effective technique.

The effect of intrathecal epinephrine on epidural infused analgesics during labor.

Background And Objectives: In order to prolong labor analgesia, one may add intrathecal epinephrine to the combination of bupivacaine and fentanyl. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the addition of intrathecal epinephrine would lessen the requirement for a rescue dose of epidural analgesia during labor.

Methods: One hundred-eight parturients randomly received intrathecal bupivacaine 2.

In vitro fertilization-induced alterations in coagulation and fibrinolysis as measured by thromboelastography.

Supraphysiologic increases in estrogen produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) promote the expression of hemostatic markers. Although quantitative studies of individual markers have been performed during IVF, their results are conflicting and do not reveal the qualitative effect of each marker on the overall coagulation and fibrinolytic processes. Thrombelastograph (TEG) coagulation analysis, by contrast, provides a global measure of coagulation and fibrinolysis and can indicate the relative contributions of clotting factors, fibrinogen, and platelets to each process.

Anesthetic considerations for a patient with compound heterozygous medium-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency.

We describe the anesthetic management of a parturient with compound heterozygous medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, the most common disorder of fatty acid metabolism.

Pregnancy alters adrenergic mechanisms in uterine arterioles of rats.

Unlabelled: Pregnancy is associated with altered vascular reactivity. However, the effect of pregnancy on the alpha- and beta-adrenergic responses in the uterine microcirculation remains to be determined. In late-pregnant (Day 20-21, n = 6) and virgin (n = 6) Sprague-Dawley rats, uterine radial arterioles (70-120 microm in internal diameter) were isolated.

The effectiveness of video technology as an adjunct to teach and evaluate epidural anesthesia performance skills.

Background: Although video review has been used in teaching, it has not been reported for use as an adjunct to teaching anesthesiology residents. The purpose of the prospective, randomized, blinded study was to determine whether teaching with video review improves epidural anesthesia skills of anesthesiology residents.

Methods: Twenty-two second-year (CA-2) anesthesiology residents beginning their first obstetric anesthesia rotation were assigned to video or non-video groups.