Perioperative management of pregnant women undergoing nonobstetric surgery

Abstract

Nonobstetric surgery during pregnancy should be avoided if possible, but when surgery is required, an obstetrician should be part of the perioperative team. In general, preoperative assessment is similar regardless of whether a woman is pregnant, but cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, and renal changes of pregnancy can increase surgical risk and must be taken into account. Special management considerations include pregnancy-associated laboratory changes, timing of surgery, anesthesia choice, intubation precautions, patient positioning, preoperative blood typing, intraoperative fetal monitoring, and venous thromboembolism prophylaxis.