Risks of anesthesia during pregnancy | Anesthesia during pregnancy

Risks of anesthesia during pregnancy

In general, the reasons for an operation and the associated anaesthesia in pregnancy must be weighed up very carefully and anaesthesia should only be used in cases where the operation cannot be postponed. The pregnant woman is going through a period of physical changes, which must also be taken into account during anesthesia. andA pregnant woman is usually operated on under general anesthesia only if it is an unavoidable procedure that is intended to ensure the survival of the pregnant woman.

Other procedures should either be postponed until after the birth or performed under local anesthesia. Anaesthesia in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy can be dangerous for the embryo, but in the last trimester of pregnancy there are fewer risks for the unborn child.Scientifically, no increased incidence of embryo malformations could be proven when the mother was anaesthetized. However, it has been shown that a higher risk for the occurrence of

• A miscarriage,
• Infant death up to 168 hours after birth and
• Underdevelopment of the child (low body weight and height).

About 0.5%-1.6% of all pregnant women have to undergo non-gynecological surgery during their pregnancy.

Of these operations, about 40% are performed in the first trimester, 35% in the second and 25% in the third trimester. The risk of death of the mother during anesthesia was reported to be 0.006% in a study of over 12,000 patients. The risk of spontaneous abortion of the fetus was also investigated in some studies.

These studies came to very different results, all of which had in common that the risk of miscarriage is logically increased by surgery. Depending on the study, the risk was 0.6% up to 6.5% higher than in women who did not need surgery with anesthesia. The risk of this complication is significantly higher if the operation was performed during the first trimester, according to study results. Studies have not yet been able to definitively clarify the connection between the substances used in anaesthesia and related neuronal damage. Overall, however, studies have shown that the probability of miscarriages, premature births, and underweight infants at birth is certainly related to surgery performed under general anesthesia.