What's new in obstetric anesthesia in 2018?

Abstract

The Gerard W. Ostheimer Lecture presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) is a one-year summary of the literature published in domains of interest to anesthesiologists who manage and care for obstetric patients. One individual is asked to review the literature and present the lecture. This manuscript summarizes aspects of the Gerard W. Ostheimer Lecture presented at the 2019 SOAP meeting; the relevant literature from 2018 was summarized. The topics included in this review are maternal morbidity, antibiotic prophylaxis, anaphylaxis, the Lancet series on increasing cesarean delivery rates, the Robson Ten-Group Classification System, pelvic floor disorders, timing of delivery in nulliparous women, placenta accreta disorders, anesthesia for cesarean delivery, labor analgesia (including parturients with thrombocytopenia and tattoos, and epidural maintenance with the programmed intermittent epidural bolus technique), ultrasound use in obstetric anesthesia, and drugs in pregnancy.