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A 25-year-old primigravida at 39 weeks gestational age presents to the labor and delivery floor with ruptured membranes and frequent uterine contractions. She does not want to have epidural analgesia because of a story she heard about an epidural complication suffered by one of her distant relatives. After 14 hours of labor augmented with oxytocin, and now 2 hours of pushing, she is urgently taken to the operating room for emergency cesarean section because of prolonged late decelerations. She weighs 253 lbs (115 kg) and is 5′3″ (160 cm) tall, giving her a BMI of approximately 45 kg·m–2. Airway examination on admission revealed a Mallampati II and a thyromental distance of 4 cm. She has full neck extension with normal dentition and a normal mouth opening. On arrival in the operating room, her Mallampati score is now assessed to be a grade III. She has large gravid breasts. Her blood pressure is 128/68 mmHg, heart rate 100 beats per minute (bpm), respiratory rate 20 breaths per minute, and SaO2 of 99% on a 100% oxygen via a non-rebreather face mask. On arrival in the operating room, the fetal heart rate is 80 bpm.
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ANESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS
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What Are the Anesthetic Options for Cesarean Section in This Patient?
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An emergency cesarean section is mandated to deliver a fetus with persistent bradycardia (late decelerations) while minimizing potential/preventable risks to the mother. Anesthesia risk factors for airway management in this patient include her BMI (45 kg·m–2), potential for airway edema after 2 hours of pushing, infusion of oxytocin, and enlarged breasts. Although regional anesthesia has become the standard of anesthetic care for operative delivery in obstetrics,1 this patient has refused the regional approach.
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The concerns for emergency cesarean section under general anesthesia include securing the airway, minimizing the risk of aspiration, reducing the sympathetic response to laryngoscopy and intubation, ensuring adequate fluid resuscitation, and the potential for blood loss due to volatile agent-induced uterine atony. With respect to the first of these concerns, all labor and delivery facilities must have a difficult airway cart and contingency plans for failed laryngoscopic intubation.1
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AIRWAY CONSIDERATIONS
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What Are the Airway Considerations in Pregnant Women?
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Pregnancy is associated with fluid retention and weight gain.2 Mallampati classes III and IV airways seem to be more prevalent in parturients at the beginning of labor (28%) than in the general adult population (7%-17%), suggesting that an increase in tongue volume may be one of the physiologic changes of a normal pregnancy.3 Structurally, the pharyngeal airway is surrounded by soft tissues (such as the tongue and soft palate), which are enclosed by bony structures (such as the mandible and spine). The size of the airway space is determined by the balance between the bony ...