Labor analgesia for the parturient with neurological disease: what does an obstetrician need to know?

Several neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and subarachnoid hemorrhage are encountered with increasing frequency in pregnant women worldwide. Although there is absence of uniform anesthetic guidelines for pregnant patients with most of these (and other) neurological disorders, and the decision whether or not to administer regional anesthesia is based on an individual risk-to-benefit ratio on a case-by-case basis, few of these disorders contraindicate the use of neuraxial anesthesia. This article attempts to review the specific concerns for administration of labor analgesia posed by multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, epilepsy, paraplegia and subarachnoid hemorrhage.