Anesthesia for cesarean section in a patient with respiratory failure -A case report-.

We present successful epidural anesthesia and assisted mechanical ventilation in a parturient woman with respiratory failure. A 41-year-old woman at 35 weeks' of gestation was entering labor. She was pneumonectomized on the left, had bronchiectasis on the remnant lung, and was under assisted mechanical ventilation by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) because of severely restricted lung function and superimposed pneumonia. We administered continuous epidural analgesia for vaginal delivery, and extended it for cesarean section after failure of vaginal delivery. During the procedure, her ventilation was continuously assisted by CPAP. The maternal and fetal outcomes were successful.