Anaesthetic management of labour and delivery in the parturient with mitochondrial myopathy.

Purpose: We describe the anaesthetic management for Caesarean section in a parturient with a defect in complex III of the respiratory chain who had increased lactate concentrations at rest and with exercise.

Clinical Features: We administered effective epidural anaesthesia with lidocaine for Caesarean delivery. The serum lactate concentration was less than the preoperative value both during and after surgery.

[Obstetric peridural anesthesia with sufentanil. Is it contraindicated?].

The advantages of the addition of low-dose sufentanil to local anaesthetics in epidural analgesia during labour (improvement of analgesia, reduction of total dose of local anaesthetic, reduction of rate of instrumental delivery outweigh) far the disadvantages (pruritus, sedation, potential maternal and neonatal respiratory depression). In over 8000 cases, the addition of incremental sufentanil (7.5 micrograms) up to 30 micrograms has not caused any negative effects on newborns, and hence, the addition of sufentanil is justified; it may even be indicated.

[Maternal-fetal cardiovascular effect of spinal anesthesia].

Despite of a chronic volume overload the left ventricle function of pregnant women is preserved by both afterload reduction (arterial vasodilatation) and a facilitation of heart filling through an increase in peripheral venous tone. Fetal oxygenation results from an equilibrium between placental and umbilical blood flows. During regional anaesthesia the sympathetic blockade leads to a peripheral vasodilatation (mainly in the capacitive territories) which is the cause of arterial hypotension through a decrease in cardiac output.

Clinical experience with the Silc Cup Vacuum Extractor.

The relative merits of vacuum extraction have been extensively studied and its advantages analysed. These include its ease of application, encouragement of "autorotation" of the malpositioned foetal head and its safety for both foetus and especially the mother. One hundred and eighty-six vacuum extraction assisted deliveries were performed at the Department of Gynaecological Oncology & Urology, Kandang Kerbau Hospital, from 1988 to 1990 using the 50 mm Silicone Silc Cup Vacuum Extractor (Menox AB).

Epidural anaesthesia for caesarean section in a patient with a cerebral artery aneurysm.

A case is described of a 30-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic woman who presented at 25 weeks gestation with frontal headache. Contrast tomography revealed an aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery with no evidence of subarachnoid bleeding. Although elective caesarean section at term was planned, it was performed at gestational week 38 due to the onset of vaginal bleeding and premature labour.

Nurse-midwifery services in one multi-ethnic, underserved community.

Through a nurse-midwifery service in a mixed urban and rural agricultural community, we compared maternal risk factors, prenatal care, labor and delivery, and adverse birth outcomes in low-income Mexican-American Hispanic, white (Caucasian), and Southeast Asian women--a three-way analysis rarely reported in the literature. Southeast Asian women were older and had more children. Hispanic women bore children at a younger age.

[The use of opioids by the regional route in obstetrics].

Epidural and spinal administration of opioids in obstetrics can be used during labour and for cesarean section. Although these routes of administration are of limited use when opiates are employed as sole agents, the association with local anesthetics may improve the characteristics of analgesia. The administration of a local anesthetic-opiate mixture allows a reduction of the total amount of local anesthetics, thus reducing the incidence of maternal hypotension and the percentage of instrumental extraction.

Primary care obstetrics in rural western New York. A multi-center case review.

Obstetric care in rural communities is in crisis due to the shortage of practitioners and the pressures of regulatory agencies on small obstetric units. We reviewed the records of 297 pregnant women presenting to the offices of 12 family physicians in rural areas of Western New York State. Local deliveries were done in rural hospitals that reported fewer than 500 deliveries per year.

[Maternal and neonatal plasma concentrations of bupivacaine during peridural anesthesia for cesarean section].

Many anesthesiologists prefer epidural anesthesia for cesarean section because of the potential risks of general anesthesia such as Mendelson's syndrome. For this indication, the local anesthetic of first choice is the long-acting substance bupivacaine. The aim of the following study was to determine maternal and neonatal plasma concentrations of bupivacaine 0.

A comparative study between the use of analgesia/anaesthesia and of episiotomy in women delivered under consultant supervision or general practitioner care.

A retrospective cohort study based on obstetric records was performed, to compare the use of analgesia/anaesthesia during labour by consultants and general practitioners. The episiotomy rates for the two groups were also compared. 111 general practitioner patients were identified and these were matched with 111 consultant patients.

[Status of obstetrical anesthesia in Germany].

A study on actual trends in obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia was conducted on data received from 385 German departments of obstetrics with a total of 267441 deliveries. On the basis of these extensive data quantitative results could be obtained about analgesic procedures for spontaneous deliveries, operative-vaginal deliveries, Caesarean sections and in cases of foetal or maternal risks. The type of analgesics and local anaesthetics used, their side effects and complications were recorded.

Regional anaesthesia and uterine blood flow.

Sufficient placental blood flow is mandatory for the well-being of the fetus. The delicate balance between uterine perfusion pressure and uterine vascular resistance can be critically disturbed during epidural anaesthesia. Maternal hypotension is common when extensive block for Caesarean Section is used.

Obstetric practice in Finland, 1950-1980. Changes in technology and its relation to health.

The purposes of the paper are to describe changes in the technologic methods used in Finnish obstetric practice and to relate them to some measures of infant and mother health. Antenatal care in Finland still largely retains its original low-technology character, but changes toward more technology-oriented care can be seen. The management of labor and deliveries changed dramatically in the latter half of the 1960s and in the 1970s.

Elective induction of labor conducted under lumbar epidural block. II. Labor induction by amniotomy and intravenous prostaglandin.

Labor was electively induced at term in 117 clinically normal nulliparae and parous women by combining low amniotomy with intravenous administration of prostaglandin F2 alpha (n = 64) or prostaglandin E2 (n = 53). Analgesia was obtained by continuous lumbar epidural block with bupivacaine. The procedure was very effective in producing vaginal delivery within 24 h after prostaglandin infusion (n = 115), but it was accompanied by an extremely high incidence of uterine hypertonus.