2008 Volume 28 Issue 5 Pages 757-764
Perinatal medicine is becoming more centralized as general opinion changes and the public recognizes the improved safety offered by larger institutions. Anesthesiologists can play a more important part in perinatal emergencies, as the centralization of perinatal medicine continues and public opinion matures. Perinatal emergencies are divided into two categories: maternal emergencies and fetal emergencies. Maternal emergencies encompass seizures, embolism and massive obstetric hemorrhage such as placental abruption, placenta previa and uterine inversion. Fetal emergencies are almost always ultra-emergency cesarean sections. We describe our experiences of perinatal emergencies in Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital, and discuss the role of obstetric anesthesiologists.
