Chapters authored
Ultrasound-Guided Regional Analgesia for Post-Cesarean Pain
Pain management after a surgical intervention is one of the fundamental pillars for optimal patient recovery. In obstetric patients, this management may affect the mother and the newborn. The gold standard for analgesic management is the use of intrathecal morphine due to its long-lasting effect; however, adverse effects related to the use of opioids are evidenced, whether administered intrathecally or systemically in case of contraindication to the neuraxial approach or if a long-acting opioid is not available. Cesarean sections have been associated with moderate-to-severe postoperative pain. Multimodal analgesic management seeks to minimize the undesirable effects on the mother-newborn binomial in order to increase maternal satisfaction. The most studied regional blocks for this surgery are the transversus abdominis plane block and the ilioinguinal-iliohypogastric block, which shows contradictory evidence at the time of evaluate pain where there is no significant difference compared with intrathecal morphine, but there were fewer side effects with the TAP block group when assessing pruritus, nausea, and vomiting. Quadratus lumborum and erectus spinae plane block demonstrate its usefulness with better pain management compared with TAP block regardless of them having a higher level of complexity due to the visceral pain control; but there is no evidence with methodologic quality enough that demonstrates better outcomes compared with intrathecal morphine.
Part of the book: Topics in Regional Anesthesia
Patient Blood Management in Cesarean Section
Worldwide, every minute a woman dies due to complications during pregnancy, obstetric hemorrhage being the leading cause. However, most of these deaths are preventable with prompt recognition and management. The main objective of its management in the initial phase of resuscitation is to aggressively optimize macro and microhemodynamic parameters by ensuring effective resuscitation. Patient blood management (PBM) consists in the timely application of evidence-based medical and surgical procedures aimed at maintaining hemoglobin concentration, optimizing hemostasis and minimizing blood loss to improve patient outcome, all of these based in three pillars: endogenous erythropoiesis, platelet and coagulation factors function and physiological reserve of anemia. PBM consider various strategies to reach the main goal, including transfusional, non-transfusional and surgical measures. At preoperative period the prevention and treatment of anemia is the corner stone of the PBM guideline. Once at the operating room the fluid management, uterotonic and pro-coagulant drugs, fibrinogen and blood products transfusion play a key role and surgical techniques have to be done if the patient life is threatened. Manage postpartum anemia by appropriate iron administration. Optimize the patient’s physiological response to anemia, treat infections and maximize oxygen delivery to minimize transfusions if they are not strictly necessary.
Part of the book: New Aspects in Cesarean Sections