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Anatomo-physiological Changes During Labor and After Delivery

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Epidural Labor Analgesia

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Abstract

The major anatomo-physiological changes of the maternal cardiovascular system happen throughout gestation and include an increase of blood volume, cardiac output, maternal heart rate, decrease of arterial blood pressure, and systemic vascular resistance. These changes are almost fully reversed in the weeks and months after delivery. During labor and delivery, there is further adaptation of cardiac output which progressively rises in both stroke volume and heart rate, peaking with contractions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Fatebenefratelli General Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Rome, 00186, Italy

    Raffaella Parpaglioni

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  1. Raffaella Parpaglioni
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Correspondence to Raffaella Parpaglioni .

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  1. Dept of Anesthesiolgy, Città di Roma Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Giorgio Capogna

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Parpaglioni, R. (2015). Anatomo-physiological Changes During Labor and After Delivery. In: Capogna, G. (eds) Epidural Labor Analgesia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13890-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13890-9_2

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