Contents:

• Obstetric Anaesthesia Societies
• Medical Information
• Information for Patients

Obstetric Anesthesia Societies

The Society For Obstetric Anesthesia And Perinatology
-an excellent starting point for all matters relating to Obstetric Anesthesia

See also the VAT Chapter on Societies & Departments.

Medical Information

Low back pain after delivery - the clear consensus is that it is not increased by epidural analgesia, being just as common after non-epidural delivery. See Macarthur Anesth & Analg 1995, Macarthur Nov 11 1995 BMJ, Jan 2003 Am Fam Physician, Loughnan BRJA 2002, Howell BMJ 2002, Paul Ting's review.

Post-Partum Haemorrhage - Reviews: eMedicine, AccessToHealth, UVA information sheet, Natural Childbirth group. Medical & surgical treatment : Schnellenberg, Geneva; options include considering external aortic compression, also uterine artery embolisation, intrauterine PGF2alpha, can be complicated by (or due to) DIC or amniotic fluid embolism.

Dural Puncture - 1997 overview by Muir, Paech's 'Myths & Legends', overview by CUMC, postulated mechanism of leak, notes on the epidural blood patch from Der Anaesthesist, notes on arachnoiditis by Sarah Smith, unusual Anesthesiology case report of transverse sinus thrombosis.

Spinal Anaesthesia in Obstetrics - Update in Anaesthesia (see the whole spinals page) , bibliography by Oyston.

Virtual Anaesthesia Textbook - Local and Regional Anaesthesia courtesy of John Oyston, Ottawa General Hospital.

ManBit's management of specific heart diseases in obstetrics by Volpe.

University of Basel, Swiss Anaesthesia Server - Obstetric Anesthesia Resident's Handbook (articles on analgesia, pre-eclampsia, delivery, caesarean section). Also Obstetric Anesthesia: Special Situations

A J Wright's Early Obstetric Anesthesia description and bibliography of the history of Obstetric Anesthesia.

Epidural Analgesia in Delivery by V. Lanza, Italy. A very complete description of their clinical practice, including pre-op evaluation, on-line retrieval of clinical data, with pictures and tables.

Low Spinal Anaesthesia for Caesarean Section describes 100 cases using this technique. John Oyston has written a "Guide to Spinal Anaesthesia for Caesarean Section", and adapted an article by Dr Muir on "Epidural Misadventures".

The MSH Obstetric Ultrasound group has kindly put their Ultrasound Workshop Website on-line. Great descriptions of needling techniques, TAP blocks etc.

Information for Patients

Patients' Guide to Local and Regional Anaesthesia - John Oyston, Ottawa General Hospital.

UNC has a concise summary on epidural analgesia as does WomensHealth.com. A more detailed guide to Pain Relief in Labour is available from Manbit. A google search will find lots of pages about labour pain but none stand out.

Epidural Anaesthesia and You - Royal Womens Hospital, Australia. Pros and Cons of Epidurals Penny Simkin.

Pain relief in labour - Southern Health Board, Ireland.

Medical Risks of Epidural Anaesthesia During Childbirth - extensive listing; for some balance see Paul Ting's review and this BUPA health news article.