Question

General anesthesia is not used frequently in obstetrics because of the risks involved. There are physiologic changes that occur during pregnancy that make the risks of general anesthesia higher than it is in the general population. What is one of those risks?a) Neonatal depressionb) Fetal hypersensitivity to anestheticc) Woman is more sensitive to pre-anesthetic medicationsd) Woman is less sensitive to inhalation anesthetics

Answer 1

A. Neonatal Depression

Explanation - A surgery by general anesthesia is usually avoided in pregnant woman. If there is an emergency then the woman has to undergo surgery. It is looked if the woman can be treated after the first trimester because that is the time when the growth of fetus occurs.

The health of the fetus is dependent directly on the mother. If the mother is exposed to general anesthesia, then the child have the risk of hypoxemia (low oxygen level), depression of fetal cardiovascular and CNS. Fetus is the secondary recipient of anesthesia and in most cases suffers no blood loss and do not undergo direct.