Anaesthetic management of labour in two patients with Klippel-Feil syndrome.

Two patients with Type I Klippel-Feil syndrome presented at the antenatal clinic. The first patient, who suffered from sleep apnoea, was delivered of a healthy infant by vacuum extraction. The second, who was profoundly deaf and had marked kyphoscoliosis, developed pregnancy-induced hypertension and urinary tract infection and was delivered at 38 weeks by vacuum extraction. In both cases epidural analgesia was employed to allow pain relief during labour. Anaesthetic management of Klippel-Feil syndrome is discussed and the benefits of early anaesthetic assessment and continued involvement of senior anaesthetic and obstetric staff emphasized.