Dominyka Surgontaitė¹, Justas Balčiūnas¹, Ernestas Rinkevičius¹

¹ Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Academy of Medicine. Faculty of Medicine.

ABSTRACT

Pregnancy-induced hypertension is a serious problem encountered all over the world. The prevalence of this pathology is around 12% of all pregnancies. Higher blood pressure causes health issues to both mother and fetus. When this condition is diagnosed, it is essential to evaluate patients’ clinical symptoms, perform a physical exam, assess lab test results and choose the correct treatment. If complications, which demand urgent delivery, occur, it is important to make a decision whether vaginal birth or caesarean section (C-section) is more appropriate. The greatest challenge for the anesthesiologist is to determine the right method of anesthesia. Compared to general anesthesia (GA), lower risk of complications is present when neuraxial anesthesia (NA) is administered. Although NA requires more time to prepare and to reach the desired analgesic effect. Pregnancy-induced hypertension and methods of labor analgesia and C-section anesthesia are discussed in this literature review.

Keywords: hypertension, pregnancy, analgesia, regional anesthesia, general anesthesia.