[Operative treatment in pregnancy]

Operative treatment in pregnancy is a challenge as the treatment not only should consider the patient but also any potential side effects on the foetus. Pregnant women differ from non-pregnant women in several aspects - both anatomically and physiologically, and many of these changes vary during pregnancy. Moreover, symptoms in pregnant women are often more vague than normally observed and pregnancy per se induces changes in paraclinical tests. The choice of imaging procedures is restricted to procedures which are unharmful to the foetus. Thus, the risk of diagnostic failures is increased. The potential risk to the foetus induced by operative treatment under anaesthetic varies during pregnancy.