Abstract
The most widely used obstetric anesthesia in Japan is for cesarean section. For the anesthesia, reliable skill is necessary for the safe practice with less risk. One has to insert the needle in the correct place and choose the appropriate anesthetic mixture on the basis of knowledge of maternal anatomical and physiological changes, or maternal background to establish the anesthesia. Especially, combined spinal-epidural anesthesia, which is used for more than half of the cesarean sections in 60% of Japanese hospitals, is not simply a combination of spinal and epidural anesthesia. One has to consider the interaction of these two anesthetic methods.
