Complications of regional and general anaesthesia in obstetric practice

Any anaesthetic technique, either regional or general, has potential for complications. Moreover, it has been seen that in obstetric patients, the complications are potentiated due to pregnancy-related changes in physiology and due to various other factors. Increasing trend of caesarean section in the setting of increasing maternal age, obesity and other concomitant diseases will continue to challenge the obstetric anaesthetist in his/her task of providing safe regional and general anaesthesia. This review has highlighted the possible complications of regional and general anaesthesia encountered during the obstetric anaesthesia practice.