Anesthesia practice in cesarean delivery in tertiary care hospital: a retrospective observational study

Background: Regional anesthesia is being utilized as the preferred anesthetic technique for cesarean delivery worldwide. This study was performed to review cesarean delivery anesthetic practice in our institute which represents a tertiary care regional hospital. Methods: Data was collected regarding the number of cesarean delivery performed during the period of six months from January 2017 to June 2017 at Western Regional Hospital. Number of elective versus emergency cesarean delivery, mode of anesthesia and the reason for general anesthesia and complications was recorded. Results: The number of cesarean delivery was found to be 1174(26.41%) of total deliveries during the study period. Out of which, 64.82% were for emergency indication and 35.18% were elective cesarean delivery. Spinal anesthesia was utilized in 99.03% of elective cesarean section and 97.63% of emergency cesarean section. The percentage of cases performed under general anesthesia was 1.87%. Reasons for general anesthesia included inadequate subarachnoid block, fetal malpresentation, eclampsia and maternal comorbidities. Complications related to general anesthesia like failed intubation, airway difficulty related to general anesthesia and anesthesia related mortality was not encountered. Conclusion: Spinal anesthesia is utilized widely and safely in obstetric practice at our hospital. Use of labour epidural analgesia should be introduced and encouraged in our setting to minimize the side effects of single shot spinal anesthesia and to avoid general anesthesia when indicated.