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Anesthetic Management and Challenges in the Pregnant Patient

  • Anesthesia for Trauma (JW Simmons, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Trauma during pregnancy is the leading cause of non-obstetric morbidity and mortality and presents a unique set of challenges to the anesthesiologist, as there are inherently two patients to care for. The best treatment for the fetus is expeditious evaluation and resuscitation of the mother. Evaluation of the fetus by an obstetrician should be part of the secondary survey, including fetal heart rate monitoring for pregnancies exceeding 20 weeks gestation. The duration of fetal heart rate monitoring should be guided by the severity and mechanism of injury, as well as by maternal and fetal responses. Pregnancy brings about a multitude of physiologic changes that must be considered when evaluating and treating the pregnant trauma patient. The anesthesiologist may have more familiarity with the physiology of pregnancy and can play an important role in resuscitation. The initial goals of resuscitation are maintenance of adequate ventilation and oxygenation, volume replacement, and avoidance of aortocaval compression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX, 75390-9068, USA

    Tiffany Sun Moon

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA

    Joshua Sappenfield

Authors
  1. Tiffany Sun Moon
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  2. Joshua Sappenfield
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Correspondence to Tiffany Sun Moon.

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Tiffany Sun Moon and Joshua Sappenfield declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Anesthesia for Trauma.

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Moon, T.S., Sappenfield, J. Anesthetic Management and Challenges in the Pregnant Patient. Curr Anesthesiol Rep 6, 89–94 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40140-015-0132-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40140-015-0132-7

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