[Preoperatively Administered Drugs and Anesthetic Consideration for a Parturient Requiring Cesarean Section]

A parturient requiring cesarean section may be administered various kinds of drugs preoperatively depending on her situation. For parturient with threat- ened premature labor, tocolytic drugs such as beta- stimulant, calcium channel blocker, and magnesium are administered to prevent premature delivery, and ste- roids are administered to prevent neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. For parturient with preeclampsia, vasopressors are administered to control blood pres- sure, and magnesium is administered to prevent eclampsia. For a parturient with habitual abortion or with high risk of venous thromboembolism, anticoagu- lants are administered. These drugs may possibly affect anesthesia by either enhancing and reducing effect of anesthetic agents, cause anesthetic complica- tion, and require special consideration in anesthetic care. Therefore, we anesthesiologists are supposed to plan optimal anesthesia for these patients by paying enough attention to the effect of these drugs on anes- thetic care. In this review, individual anesthetic consid- eration will be discussed for each drug.