Open AccessAnaesthesia for a patient with Eisenmenger′s syndrome undergoing caesarean section
Author(s) -
T Gurumurthy,
Radhesh Hegde,
BS Mohandas
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
indian journal of anaesthesia/indian journal of anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 0976-2817
pISSN - 0019-5049
DOI - 10.4103/0019-5049.98780
Subject(s) - medicine , eisenmenger syndrome , caesarean section , pregnancy , anesthesia , ductus arteriosus , pulmonary hypertension , obstetrics , heart disease , cardiology , biology , genetics
Eisenmenger's syndrome is a cyanotic congenital heart disease that includes pulmonary hypertension with reversed or bidirectional shunt associated with septal defects or patent ductus arteriosus. The decreased systemic vascular resistance associated with pregnancy increases the degree of right to left shunting, thereby carrying substantial risk to both the mother and the foetus. The maternal mortality rate of pregnancy in the presence of Eisenmenger's syndrome is reported to be as high as 30-70%. We present a case of a 22-year-old primigravida with Eisenmenger's syndrome who gave birth at 37 weeks of gestation via caesarean section to a live female baby under general anaesthesia. On the third post-operative day, the patient developed tachycardia, tachypnoea, hypotension and decrease in oxygen saturation despite supplemental oxygen, clinically suspected pulmonary thromboembolism. We describe the anaesthetic management for caesarean section and its complications in a patient with Eisenmenger's syndrome. Although pregnancy should be discouraged in women with Eisenmenger's syndrome, it can be successful.