Effect of anesthesia for primary cesarean section on postoperative infectious morbidity

It has been stated that general anesthesia is a risk factor for postcesarean infectious morbidity. A retrospective review of 252 women who had undergone primary cesarean section at the University of Iowa Hospital was conducted. Regional anesthesia was successfully administered to 170 patients, and general anesthesia was administered to 82 patients. Patients receiving general anesthesia were more likely to be indigent, to receive a vertical skin incision, and to be transfused intraoperatively and/or postoperatively. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to multiple indexes of postoperative fever or infection, including febrile morbidity, diagnosis of infection, use of therapeutic antibiotics, fever index, and postoperative hospital stay. General anesthesia, as administered to patients in the present series, did not increase the risk of infectious morbidity after primary cesarean section. However, our surgeons apparently were influenced by the choice of anesthetic technique when selecting a skin incision.