Advantages of local anesthesia for cesarean section

A review was made of histories of 5010 patients delivered by the senior author over a period of 25 years. Of these deliveries, cesarean section was performed in 283 (5.6%). In 218 of these patients, only local field block of the abdominal wall was done prior to the birth of the baby. When local anesthesia was used, 92% of newborn babies cried spontaneously at once, There were 48 premature babies and 7 neonatal deaths, the latter caused primarily by pregnancy complications and secondarily by prematurity. Fetuses already at high risk are most benefited by the use of local anesthesia prior to birth. Many of the patients experiencing this method had second, third, and even fourth cesarean sections with the use of local anesthesia.