Obsgynaecritcare Roger Browning - Anaesthetist

You are called to review a woman in labour ward. When you arrive you are told her epidural is no longer working. The epidural was placed by a colleague 5 hours ago and was working well. However in the last 20-30 minutes she has developed breakthrough pain despite a top up and pressing the PCEA a few times. You look at her back and the epidural dressing looks fine - no obvious explanation there.







Upon further questioning you are told that she had a caesarean in her previous pregnancy and she is attempting a VBAC. She tells you that since you arrived in the room the pain has changed. Now it is constant and she has developed pain in her shoulder. Suddenly the CTG deteriorates and within a few minutes the team are calling a code blue caesarean to theatre.....This is recollection of a real case from an evening shift a few years ago.







As you can probably guess this week we are discussing the important and somewhat scary topic of uterine rupture.







This week we are joined to discuss this topic by Dr David Owen. David is a senior obstetrician, who previous to WA worked at Liverpool Women's Hospital and was a psychiatrist in a previous life.







Thanks David!







References







Uterine Rupture: A Seven Year Review at a Tertiary Care Hospital in New Delhi, India







Tocogram characteristics of uterine rupture: a systematic review

A maternal death is always a tragic event for the mother, the child, the family and society at large. Unfortunately in some parts of the globe this is still a much too common event. Luckily for those of us living in higher resource countries it has now become relatively rare.







This week Matt and I sat down together to discuss the history of maternal mortality reporting, and all the useful knowledge we have been able to learn over the years from these important resources.







What are direct, indirect and coincidental maternal deaths? We touch on some aspects of the recent Australian reports and then go into depth on the long history of the UK reports which have many strengths such as their national funding, compulsory reporting, anonymous nature and very long history.







Thanks Matt







References







Maternal Mortality Report Australia







Maternal Mortality World Health Organisation WHO







MBRRACE-UK Maternal mortality reports UK







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As the duty anaesthetist you are called down to the antenatal clinic by the obstetric team to see a pregnant woman with achondroplasia who is booked to deliver in your hospital.







What are the anaesthetic issues which can arise in this condition? What evidence is there in the literature for the optimal anaesthetic techniques? What will you discuss with this woman and how will you counsel her?







Join Declan and I as we discuss the anaesthetic issues of this relatively rare but sometimes challenging condition...







References







Dumitrascu CI, Eneh PN, Keim AA, Kraus MB, Sharpe EE. Anesthetic management of parturients with achondroplasia: a case series. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2023 Dec 20;37(1):63-68. doi: 10.1080/08998280.2023.2261084. PMID: 38173994; PMCID: PMC10761160.







Lange, E.M.S., Toledo, P., Stariha, J. et al. Anesthetic management for Cesarean delivery in parturients with a diagnosis of dwarfism. Can J Anesth/J Can Anesth 63, 945–951 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12630-016-0671-5







15 Ways Pregnancy Is Different For Little People - Good Lay Person Website

You are called to a code blue on the postnatal ward. A 28 yr old female who is 1 day post a non elective caesarean section has just had a witnessed convulsion lasting 1-2 min. She has now regained consciousness but seems a little confused and is complaining that she "has lost vision in both of her eyes". Her BP is 180/100, and all other vital signs are normal.







What is this most likely to be? What is your differential diagnosis (what things do you not want to miss)? What investigations would you like done?







This turns out to be an episode of eclampsia and PRES (posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome).







What is PRES? What are it's radiological features and what is the mechanism which leads to this disorder?







Join Graeme and I as we discuss this uncommon but fascinating condition.







References







Gewirtz AN, Gao V, Parauda SC, Robbins MS. Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2021 Feb 25;25(3):19. doi: 10.1007/s11916-020-00932-1. PMID: 33630183; PMCID: PMC7905767.







Marcoccia E, Piccioni MG, Schiavi MC, Colagiovanni V, Zannini I, Musella A, Visentin VS, Vena F, Masselli G, Monti M, Perrone G, Panici PB, Brunelli R. Postpartum Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES): Three Case Reports and Literature Review. Case Rep Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Jan 27;2019:9527632. doi: 10.1155/2019/9527632. PMID: 30809401; PMCID: PMC6369475.

Hi everyone,







Join us this episode - Declan and I have scoured the literature for a few interesting articles of varying degrees of quality! We had fun discussing these articles and hopefully you will also enjoy our discussion.







Hopefully we will make this a regular feature every 3-4 months!







Articles Discussed







1 - Effect of Dural-Puncture Epidural vs Standard Epidural for Epidural Extension on Onset Time of Surgical Anesthesia in Elective Cesarean DeliveryA Randomized Clinical Trial







In this RCT published in JAMA - the time to surgical anaesthesia was 4 min faster when topping up a dural puncture epidural in comparison to a standard epidural catheter.







2 - Neuraxial buprenorphine for post-cesarean delivery analgesia: a case series







This correspondence from the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia (IJOA) this year discussed the experience of a small hospital which decided to use neuraxial buprenorphine when there was a morphine shortage.







3 - There's No Such Thing as “Nonjudgmental” Debriefing: A Theory and Method for Debriefing with Good Judgment







This classic paper from 2006 is a must read for anyone who is involved in debriefing and simulation in healthcare.







4 - Improving blood product management in placenta accreta patients with severe bleeding: institutional experience







This short report from IJOA 2023 describes the experience of blood product management in patients with placenta accreta spectrum disorder in a large tertiary referral hospital in Israel.







5 - Incidence of Interstitial Alveolar Syndrome on Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasonography in Pre-eclamptic Women With Severe Features: A Prospective Observational Study







This observational study from Analgesia & Anesthesia 2022 examined 70 women with severe PET with lung ultrasound and ECHO to assess diastolic dysfunction.

You are called to labour ward to place an epidural in a nulliparous woman who is obviously extremely distressed in pain. After you sit her up to clean her back you notice she has a long scar running down the middle of her back. Between contractions she tells you she had surgery as a teenager to straighten her back.....what does this mean?







Hi Everyone,







Graeme regularly teaches this topic to our anaesthesia trainees and I was surprised to realise that we haven't done a podcast on this already. Join us as we discuss scoliosis, spina bifida, spinal surgery and other assorted spinal issues.







TRAGIC CASE OF AIRWAY DEATH DUE TO SEVERE KYPHOSCOLIOSIS - FROM WEST AUSTRALIAN