Is spinal anaesthesia safe in pre-eclamptic toxaemia patients?

ABSTRACT

Thirty-three patients of pre-eclamptic toxaemia underwent caesarean section (CS) under general anaesthesia (n = 16) and spinal anaesthesia (n = 17). The Apgar score at 1, 5 and 10 minutes of the babies following spinal anaesthesia (SA) were only marginally better than that of general anaesthesia (GA; P > 0.05). The incidence of complication following GA (68.8%) were significantly (P < 0.05) more than that of SA (47.1%). Commonest complications following GA were intra-operative hypertension (68.8%) followed by difficult intubation (25%), pulmonary oedema (12.8%), delayed recovery (12.8%) and mortality (4.3%). While following SA complications were intra-operative hypotension (47.1%), difficult SA (29.4%) and intra-operative vomiting (5.9%). The nature of complications following GA were more serious which may even lead to mortality (4.3%), whereas following SA it was less serious and easily manageable. Hence SA is not as unsafe as it is thought.