A permanent and inseparable companion of any anesthesia is an operation. A pregnant patient will never be anesthetized unless she is shown some kind of surgical intervention. Thus, if it says how badly the general anesthesia affects the body during pregnancy, it means a combination of negative effects - both anesthesia and the operation itself.
According to statistics, about 3% of women during pregnancy need to undergo anesthesia surgery. Most often, operations are carried out in the field of dentistry, traumatology and surgery (cholecystectomy, appendectomy). Anesthesia during pregnancy is performed only if there are urgent and urgent indications, under conditions that present a real threat to the mother's life. If the situation allows, if the operation itself and anesthesia do not require special haste and can be performed in a planned manner, then it is best to wait for the birth of the child. After this, without any additional risks, a woman can be hospitalized to perform the indicated surgical treatment of the disease.
What are the risks of general anesthesia in pregnant women?
During the analysis of a large number of studies, the experts made the following conclusions:
- General anesthesia during anesthesia during pregnancy gives an extremely low percentage of maternal mortality. In fact, it is equal in value to the risk of anesthesia performed during surgery in non-pregnant women.
- The risk of developing congenital anomalies in newborns under conditions where during pregnancy a woman was anesthetized and operated is extremely small. It is quite comparable with the frequency of development of similar pathologies in pregnant women who have never undergone anesthesia and surgery.
- The probability of miscarriage, averaged over all three trimesters of pregnancy, as well as the probability of fetal death is approximately 6 percent. This percentage is slightly higher (11%), if anesthesia was carried out in the first trimester of pregnancy. The most dangerous period in this sense - the first 8 weeks, when the fetus is laid and formed the main organs and systems.
- The likelihood of premature birth, when general anesthesia is applied during pregnancy, is also about 8%.
Preparations for general anesthesia
By studies of recent years, the safety of drugs has been proven to be sufficient for general anesthesia in pregnancy. Under doubt, negative effects on the fetus of such dangerous preparations as diazepam and nitrous oxide were considered at all times. Experts have proved that during anesthesia during pregnancy, much more important is not directly the drug (anesthetic), but the technique of anesthesia. An extremely important role is played not by the admission of a sharp drop in blood pressure and the degree of oxygen saturation of the blood of the pregnant woman during the general anesthesia. There is also a point of view that during pregnancy it is better to avoid using a local anesthetic containing adrenaline. Even the accidental introduction of such anesthetics into the mother's blood vessel can cause a sharp and persistent violation of blood flow to the fetus through the placenta. Specialists pay attention that such a local anesthetic (popular in dentistry), like ultracaine or articaine contains adrenaline.
Thus, we can safely say that general anesthesia and surgery performed during pregnancy are sufficiently safe for the mother's health, but sometimes it can harm the future child. Always the most dangerous is the first trimester of pregnancy. The final decision on the need for surgery and general anesthesia during pregnancy should be taken very carefully. It is necessary to take into account all the risks of the negative impact of anesthesia and the operation itself on the development of the unborn child. If the operation is not so necessary and there is an opportunity to postpone it for a while, then it is best to perform it during the third trimester of pregnancy.