ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2004 October;163(5):149-52

Copyright © 2004 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Anaesthesiological choice in caesarean section. Comparison between general and local anesthesia

Pitton M. A. ¹, Petolillo M. ¹, Ponchia R. ², Casamassima D. ², Grismondi G. L. ²

¹ Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Dipartimento di Farmacologia e Anestesiologia “E. Meneghetti”, Sezione di Anestesiologia e Rianimazione; ² U. O. di Ostetricia e Ginecologia, Azienda Ospedale, Padova

Aim. The aim of ­this ­study is to ­prove the ef­fi­ca­cy of spi­nal ana­es­the­sia in cae­sar­e­an sec­tion. We ­will fo­cus on how the treat­ment al­lows the moth­er to ­heal quick­er af­ter la­bour, re­duc­ing post­op­er­a­tion pain. The treat­ment im­proves her re­la­tion ­with her ­child, al­low­ing the moth­er to ac­tu­al­ly see him com­ing to ­life, ­like in a spon­ta­ne­ous la­bour.
Methods. Between October 2002 and March 2003, at the Unit of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Padua General Hospital, all the moth­ers who had a cae­sar­e­an sec­tion ­with spi­nal ana­es­the­sia and a pre­vi­ous cae­sar­e­an sec­tion ­with com­plete an­es­the­sia, ­have ­been stud­ied. On the ­first day a ques­tion­naire com­par­ing the dif­fer­ent ex­pe­ri­enc­es has ­been ad­mis­tered to ­them to­geth­er ­with the ­tests ­STAI-Y1 and ­STAI-Y2 for meas­ur­ing the “­state” and “­trait” anx­ie­ty.
The ­data ob­tained ­with the ques­tion­naires and the psy­cho­log­i­cal ­tests ­have ­been an­a­lysed. The ­scores ­achieved ­have ­been com­pared ­with ­those of the ­whole pop­u­la­tion us­ing the Z ­test, in or­der to ­check the ­state of anx­ie­ty af­ter a cae­sar­ian sec­tion.
Results. Almost all our pa­tients, 13 puer­pe­ras out of 15, pre­fer the lo­cal an­aesthe­sia. This is due ei­ther to the ad­van­tag­es giv­en by a ­good postop­er­a­tion ­course and the pos­sibil­ity to ­stay ­with ­their ba­by ­from ­birth and to ­care him/her at ­once. The pleas­ure re­sults in­de­pen­dent of the per­son­al­ity re­lat­ed to anx­ie­ty.
Conclusion. The spi­nal an­aesthe­sia, ­with an ad­e­quate pre­lim­i­nary in­for­ma­tion, is a prac­ti­cal ­help to the psy­co-phys­i­cal ­well-be­ing of the preg­nant in la­bour ­with cae­sar­ian sec­tion.