Anesthesia for non-obstetric surgery in the pregnant patient.

Surgery during pregnancy is relatively common. The present review of the literature will focus on relevant issues such as maternal safety during non-obstetric surgery in pregnancy, teratogenicity of anesthetic drugs, the avoidance of fetal asphyxia, the prevention of preterm labor, the safety of laparoscopy, the need to monitor the fetal heart rate and will finally give a practical approach to manage these patients.