[Neurological diseases in pregnancy: implications for anesthesia care--Part 1]

In the parturient as well as in the pregnant patient with neurological disease, surgery is necessary more frequently than in healthy pregnants. Most pregnancies of these patients will result in a slightly increased rate for cesarean section. The focus of anesthesia care is mostly to avoid damage to the fetus, in some pathologies to protect the mother. Pregnancy itself may change the course of pre-existent chronic neurological diseases such as epileptic seizure, multiple sclerosis, or myasthenia gravis. Other diseases will have their onset predominantly in pregnancy such as back pain, nerve compression syndromes, some brain tumors or cerebrovascular events. Subarachnoidal hemorrhage and intracranial bleeding contribute to 65 % of maternal mortality. Finally, pregnancy induced conditions such as eclampsia and HELLP syndrome and its management are reviewed where the concerns for the nervous system have high relevance for anesthesiological management. Anesthesia care for the pregnant and the parturient presenting with a neurological disease requires 1.) expertise with neuroanesthesia and obstetric anesthesia care, 2.) accurate physical examination of the neurological system preoperatively, 3.) safe choice and conductance of the anesthesia technique (mostly regional anesthesia) 4.) avoidance of unfavorable drug effects for the fetus and the nervous system of the mother and 5.) intraoperative neuromonitoring together with the control of the fetal heart rate.