Anesthetic management of a parturient implanted with a permanent pacemaker--a case report

At the present time, a patient with a pacemaker who undergoes an anesthesia for a surgical procedure is very common, but a parturient with a permanent pacemaker scheduled for elective cesarean section (c/s) is very rare. Complete heart block in pregnancy is not a common event and it may be congenital or acquired, particularly secondary to cardiac surgery. In normal women, the heart rate is physiologically increased commensurate with need, whereas in a parturient with installment of an implanted fixed rate pacemaker of VVI mode her heart rate cannot accelerate to cope with increased physiological demand because of the fixed pacing rate. For cesarean section, because of destabilized cardiovascular adaptation, an anesthesiologist must focus on detecting the early signs of compromised cardiac output in order to avoid maternal as well as fetal distress. He may run considerable risk to administer general or regional anesthesia to this kind of parturient. We present a case report in managing the parturient installed a with non-rate response type pacemaker undergoing C/S under epidural anesthesia.