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Labor analgesia for the parturient with cardiac disease: what does an obstetrician need to know?

Krzysztof M Kuczkowski1

  • 1Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego, California, USA. kkuczkowski@ucsd.edu

Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica Scandinavica
|March 5, 2004
PubMed

Maternal heart disease complicates 0.2-3% of pregnancies. The optimal management of the pregnant patient with cardiac disease depends on the cooperative efforts of the obstetrician, the cardiologist and the anesthesiologist involved in peripartum care. A comprehensive understanding of physiology of pregnancy and pathophysiology of underlying cardiac disease is of primary importance in provision of obstetric analgesia or anesthesia for this high-risk group of patients. This article will review the current guidelines and standards pertinent to management of obstetric analgesia and anesthesia in parturients with cardiac disease.

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