Food/Fiber Cesarean Sections

Pregnant anesthesia animal sedation and anesthesia

Anesthesia is tricky during pregnancy, particularly in large animals.

The first trimester is risky due to the teratogenic effects of many drugs. Anesthesia is avoided in this trimester whenever possible.

The third trimester is risky as the large fetus can impair venous return to the heart by pressure on the vena cava and diaphragm. Avoid dorsal recumbency whenever possible.

Generally elective procedures are scheduled during the second trimester or after the birth.

During Csections, avoid agents that increase tone to the uterus (for the surgeon) or compromise the cardiovascular or respiratory system of the fetus/baby. Drugs that can be reversed or have minimal depressive effects are ideal. Multimodal anesthesia helps to minimize the amount (and side effects) of each drug.

Resources

FA Sedation chapter – xylazine increases uterine tone and is considered abortigenic for cattle in the last trimester

FA Anesthesia chapter

Local blocks chapter – for epidurals

Drugs and the placenta, Open Anesthesia (human)- good resource for what drugs cross the placenta

the daily moos

Anesthesia for pregnancy and reproductive disorders , Wendt-Hornickle

Anesthesia for reproductive disorders, Graham

Two methods for casting:

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Large Animal Surgery - Supplemental Notes Copyright © by Erin Malone, DVM, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.