Airway Management during Pregnancy and Labor

Abstract

Pregnant women undergo non-obstetric surgeries as well as cesarean operations. Airway management can be complicated due to physiological changes which occur in the respiratory system of labors. The most common causes of pregnancy-specific hypoxic respiratory failure are eclampsia, preeclampsia, and pulmonary edema that develops secondary to tocolytics. Approximately 10–15% of pregnant women undergo emergency cesarean section. Regional anesthesia is a preferred technique worldwide most commonly, and general anesthesia is applied with rapid sequence induction for the rest of the patients. Difficult Airway Society Master Algorithm for Obstetric Patients is a useful method to manage the airway in labors.