Obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia

This chapter discusses the anaesthetic management of the pregnant patient, for labour analgesia as well as surgical intervention. It begins with a description of the physiological and pharmacological changes of pregnancy. It describes methods of labour analgesia, including remifentanil, and epidural analgesia and its complications, such as post dural puncture headache (PDPH). It describes anaesthesia for Caesarean section (both regional and general); failed intubation; antacid prophylaxis; postoperative analgesia; retained placenta; in utero fetal death; hypertensive disease of pregnancy (pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and the hypertension, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP) syndrome); massive obstetric haemorrhage; placenta praevia and morbidly adherent placenta (placenta accreta, increta and percreta); amniotic fluid embolism (AFE); maternal sepsis, and maternal resuscitation. It discusses comorbidity in pregnancy such as obesity and cardiac disease, and the patient who requires non-obstetric surgery while pregnant. It provides information on safe prescribing in pregnancy and breast-feeding.

Evaluation of maternal admission to intensive care unit in a tertiary care hospital of Kashmir valley

Background: Management of critically ill obstetric women at an ICU is a challenge to both physicians and obstetricians due to physiological adaptations and progress of diseases during pregnancy and puerperium. There has been a striking association between the number of maternal deaths and the accessibility to ICU care. Obstetric patients get admitted to the ICU approximately at 0.1-0.9% times of all deliveries. Objective was to evaluate the occurrence, indication and outcome of patients admitted in the ICU of an obstetric tertiary care hospital.Methods: This retrospective study was carried out from August 2020 to January 2021 at Lalla Ded Hospital, a tertiary care Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital of Kashmir valley. Data for this study was collected retrospectively from hospital records. The demographic details, indication for ICU admission, co-morbidities, ante natal care records were noted on admission to the ICU.Results: The total ICU admission during this time period was 212 (1.44%) with obstetric patients being 194 (91.5%) and gynaecologic patients 18 (8.5%). Obstetric haemorrhage (38.2) followed by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (24.1%) were the most common indications for ICU admission. 26.9% patients needed mechanical ventilation during ICU admission.Conclusions: Analysing intensive care unit utilization during pregnancy can be an accepted approach to identify severe and near miss maternal morbidity. Development and upliftment of primary health care facilities with involvement of multi-disciplinary teams and referral of high risk pregnancies to higher health centres is the key to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity.

Obstetric emergencies

Respectful Maternal Care, Antenatal care, Early pregnancy bleeding?, Hypertensive emergencies?, Pregnancy-related infection?, Obstetric haemorrhage?, Intrapartum emergencies?

Critical obstetric conditions during pandemic (COVID-19) and pre-pandemic years

Aim. To assess the structure of critical obstetric conditions and maternal mortality in Transbaikal Region in pandemic (COVID-19) and pre-pandemic years (2020 and 2019, respectively).Materials and Methods. We retrospectively analysed “near miss” (NM) and maternal deaths (MD) in 2019 and 2020, further calculating the severe maternal outcome ratio (SMOR), the summary indicator which includes both NM and MD per 1000 live births.Results. In a pandemic year (2020), we observed an increase in SMOR in comparison with a pre-pandemic year (3.0 vs 2.0, respectively). In 2019, maternal mortality was exclusively caused by obstetric complications, while extragenital pathology (cardiovascular disease and COVID-19) was responsible for that in 2020. However, the main causes of «near miss» in 2019 and 2020 were similar, including obstetric haemorrhage because of placental abruption and severe pre-eclampsia. Maternal near-miss mortality ratio (MNM/MD) increased from 7.3: 1 in 2019 to 11.3: 1 in 2020, and mortality index (MD/(MNM + MD) × 100) reduced from 12.0 to 8.1. Therefore, fewer women with life-threatening conditions died in 2020 as compared with 2019, indicating a better quality of obstetric care.Conclusion. Analysis of the critical obstetric conditions can probably find regional issues of maternal healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and propel the policy makers to find additional resources to minimise maternal morbidity and mortality.

637Validation of anaemia, haemorrhage and blood disorder reporting in routinely collected hospital data

Background Blood and bleeding related conditions are reported in hospital administrative data, however the reliability of these data is unknown. Here we examine the reliability of reporting of conditions including anaemia, obstetric haemorrhage and blood disorders, and procedures, such as transfusion and hysterectomy, in hospital records compared with obstetric databases. Methods Women giving birth to singleton infants in two tertiary hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, between 2011 and 2015 were included. Reporting in the hospital data, drawn from the Electronic Medical Records, was compared to that in linked obstetric data, obtained from the ObstetriX system, using obstetric data as the gold standard. Results 36,051 births were included. Sensitivity for anaemia and blood disorders was low (2.5–24.8%, positive predictive value (PPV) 12.0–82.6%), high for postpartum haemorrhage, transfusion and hysterectomy (82.8–96.0%, PPV 78.0–89.6%), and moderate for other obstetric haemorrhage (sensitivity: 41.9–65.1%, PPV: 50.0–56.8%) and placental complications (sensitivity 68.2–81.3%, PPV: 20.3–72.3%). Specificity and negative predictive values were high. Conclusions Anaemia and blood disorders are poorly reported in hospital data. Postpartum haemorrhage, transfusion and hysterectomy are well reported, while other obstetric haemorrhage and placental complications are moderately well reported. Key messages Hospital data may be a reliable source of information on postpartum haemorrhage, blood transfusion and hysterectomy. Caution is advised in the use of hospital data for studies of anaemia and blood disorders, and other sources should be sought where possible.

How B-Lynch suture and bilateral internal iliac artery ligation saved the uterus of a young patient with severe postpartum haemorrhage

Obstetric haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide (27.1%) and more than 66% of its deaths were classified as postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). The most common cause of PPH is uterine atony. Obstetrician should be skillful in managing obstetric emergencies; especially pertaining to PPH. Application of the B-Lynch suture on an atonic uterus is one of the surgical options in PPH patients who wish to conserve the uterus and it has a very high success rate.We present a primigravida patient who developed massive primary PPH followed by disseminated intravascular coagulation, which was successfully managed with B-Lynch suture and bilateral internal iliac artery ligation. We described in detail regarding the management of massive PPH and application of these surgical procedures on the atonic uterus with an attempt to preserve the uterus and future fertility in this young patient.

Obstetric Haemorrhage Related Maternal Mortality: A Two-Year Experience at a Teaching Hospital in Bangladesh

Background: Bangladesh is one of the developing countries where the maternal mortality is extraordinarily high. Objectives: This study was conducted to find out the number and cause of obstetric haemorrhage related maternal death. Methodology: This retrospective study was conducted in the department of obstetrics & gynaecology at M.A.G Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet, Bangladesh from January 2006 to December 2007. From all maternal deaths related to pregnancy occurred in that period, only death due to obstetric hemorrhage were enrolled. Thereafter, the records of hemorrhage related death patients were scrutinized and data were collected from death register. All necessary information was collected in a pre-designed clinical data sheet and analyzed. Results: Among all deaths in obstetric unit, maternal mortality due to obstetric haemorrhage was 32.09%. The deaths were common among multipara (3-4) in 26-30 years age group. Most of them were from lower socio-economic condition having no or irregular antenatal checkup. Among the causes of obstetric haemorrhage, PPH was the commonest. Atonic uterus was the main cause of PPH. Injudicious use of oxytocin and obstructed labour were the common cause of rupture of uterus. Although the causes of haemorrhage were different, most of the patients died due to haemorrhagic shock. Conclusion: This study helps to detect the magnitude of problem and major causes of maternal deaths specially haemorrhage related maternal deaths. Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research, July 2021;8(2):90-94