Obstetric anesthesia: not just for cesareans and labor

Abstract

The scope of obstetric anesthesia practice ranges far beyond the delivery of care to women for vaginal and cesarean deliveries. Increasingly, obstetric anesthesiologists are involved in the management of anesthetics for new procedures and for new indications. Anesthesia is frequently needed for maternal procedures, as well as fetal procedures, and at varying times in the intrapartum period. Maternal-specific procedures include cerclage, external cephalic version (ECV), postpartum bilateral tubal ligation (BTL), and dilation and evacuation (D and E). Fetus-specific procedures include fetoscopic laser photocoagulation and ex-utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT). This review will not include discussion of the anesthetic management of non-obstetric surgery during pregnancy, such as appendectomy or cholecystectomy.