Anesthesia for obstetric emergencies.

Anesthesia in an emergency presents an additional risk to the mother and may have some possibly harmful effects on the stressed fetus. The risk to the mother can be reduced by using regional anesthesia, whenever reasonable, and by taking measures to minimize the risk of aspiration of vomitus. The stressed fetus can be assisted, if not by a rapid delivery, by giving the mother oxygen to oxygenate the fetus and possibly by improving intervillous perfusion with a regional anesthetic.