Maternal mortality is increasing in the United States and remains unacceptably high in many parts of the world. Pre-existing conditions and social determinants of health frequently contribute to maternal death….

Ultrasonography is increasingly being viewed as an everyday tool in obstetric anesthesia. For the administration of spinal or epidural anesthesia, it reduces needle redirection attempts in patients with difficult anatomy….

Effective pain management should be a key priority in women undergoing cesarean delivery. Suboptimal perioperative pain management is associated with chronic pain, greater opioid use, delayed functional recovery, impaired maternal–fetal…

Hypotension commonly occurs in parturients undergoing cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia. This leads to maternal and neonatal adverse outcomes, including maternal nausea and vomiting and fetal acidosis, and might even…

Unintentional dural puncture followed by postdural puncture headache is a well-known complication following neuraxial labor analgesia. Risk factors for the development of postdural puncture headache may be related to the…

The 21st century has been billed as the era of “precision/personalized medicine.” Genetic investigation of clinical syndromes may guide therapy as well as reveal previously unknown biological or pharmacological pathways…

Neuraxial analgesia is considered the gold standard in labour analgesia, providing the most effective pain relief during childbirth. Improvements have enhanced the efficacy and safety of epidural analgesia through better…

Parenteral opioids have been used in labour analgesia for many years, but the ideal opioid in this setting is yet to be found. We review the properties of currently used…

Some anesthesiologists perceive obstetric anesthesiology as a “backwater” of anesthesia care. It is simple: place a needle in a laboring woman’s back and inject local anesthetic/opioid solution for labor analgesia…