Anaesthesia for caesarean section. A medical audit of junior anaesthetic staff practice.

This survey compared the safety of 261 healthy mothers of whom 170 received extradural and 91 general anaesthesia for Caesarean section. Anaesthetics were conducted in routine hospital practice by six anaesthetic registrars. Failed intubation occurred in one patient, awareness was reported by 12 patients following general anaesthesia and two patients had abnormal reactions to drugs. In contrast, the numerous complications that arose with extradural anaesthesia were less serious and easier to manage. Hypotension occurred in 11 patients, inadequacy of analgesia in 25 patients and a period of unawareness in 16 patients following sedation after delivery. Extradural block for Caesarean section is thus seen as safer than general anaesthesia when performed by the same group of anaesthetic trainees on healthy mothers.