General anesthesia for a caesarean section | General Anesthesia

General anesthesia for a caesarean section

Caesarean section is a surgical option for delivering the child. In this procedure, the child is taken out of the mother’s belly by means of a lower abdominal incision and the opening of the uterus. Such an operation must always be accompanied by anesthesia.

There are, however, different procedures available for a painless birth by means of a caesarean section. The choice of which type of anesthesia to use depends mainly on the planning of the procedure and the psychological stability of the mother. A so-called spinal or epidural anaesthesia, anaesthetic procedures in which the drug is injected close to the spine, are mainly considered if the caesarean section has been planned beforehand.

In the case of an unplanned Caesarean section, for example, if it only becomes apparent shortly before delivery that a classical birth via the birth canal is not possible, general anaesthesia is often induced. It makes no difference to the child which anesthesia method is used for the operation. The main difference is that with spinal or epidural anaesthesia the mother remains awake, whereas this is not possible with general anaesthesia. Studies suggest that the safety of the choice of an anaesthesia method is only slightly different and therefore the personal preference of the mother and the anaesthetist as well as the individual health status is usually the deciding factor in the choice of the anaesthesia used.

General anesthesia for children

Nowadays, general anesthesia can also be performed on children without any problems, if certain operations require it. However, the technique used differs slightly from that used in adult patients. Depending on the age of the child to be treated, general anesthesia is administered intravenously (in older children) or by means of inhalation anesthetics (in younger children).

The child’s wishes are taken into account, although older children are usually more likely to agree to have the injection into a vein in an awake state, which is necessary for the intravenous introduction. As in adult patients, the dose of the drugs used is calculated by weight, so that an overdose can be excluded. Recently, due to a new study, there has been much discussion whether general anesthesia can be harmful to the child.

For example, a study from the USA claims that general anesthesia in early childhood permanently reduces memory performance by 25% in these children. However, the German Society for Pediatric Surgery (DGKCH) announced after the publication of the study that the evidence for the assertion in the study was very thin and only contributed to uncertainty among doctors and parents of the children to be treated. Therefore, surgery should not be avoided in the case of necessary operations, since children can usually benefit greatly from the performance of the operations. If, however, it is necessary to perform surgery even when the affected child is older, the surgery should be postponed by a few months or years if possible. In any case, a detailed conversation with an anesthesiologist as well as the surgeon performing the surgery should take place before the operation, during which parents and children can share their concerns and learn about the exact course of the anesthesia and the individual risks of the procedure.