Obesity And Obstetric Anesthesia: Current Insights

Obesity is a significant global health problem. It results in a higher incidence of complications for pregnant women and their neonates. Cesarean deliveries are more common in obese parturients as well. The increased burden of comorbidities seen in this population, such as obstructive sleep apnea, necessitates antepartum anesthetic consultation. These patients pose unique challenges for the practicing anesthesiologist and may benefit from optimization prior to delivery. Complications from anesthesia and overall morbidity and mortality are higher in this population. Neuraxial anesthesia can be challenging to place in the obese parturient, but is the preferred anesthetic for cesarean delivery to avoid airway manipulation, minimize aspiration risk, prevent fetal exposure to volatile anesthetic, and decrease risk of post-partum hemorrhage from volatile anesthetic exposure. Monitoring and positioning of these patients for surgery may pose specific challenges. Functional labor epidural catheters can be topped up to provide conditions suitable for surgery. In the absence of a working epidural catheter, a combined spinal epidural anesthetic is often the technique of choice due to relative ease of placement versus a single shot spinal technique as well as the ability to extend the anesthetic through the epidural portion. For cesarean delivery with a vertical supraumbilical skin incision, a two-catheter technique may be beneficial. Concern for thromboembolism necessitates early mobilization and a multimodal analgesic regimen can help accomplish this. In addition, thromboprophylaxis is recommended in this population after delivery—especially cesarean delivery. These patients also need close monitoring in the post-partum period when they are at increased risk for several complications.