Anaesthesia for fibroid surgeries: Experience from a tertiary institution

Abstract

Background: Clinical presentations of uterine leiomyomas include pelvic masses, pelvic pain, infertility and obstetric complications. Many fibroids are asymptomatic, but in 30-40% of cases, they show a variety of symptoms, depending on the location and size. Fibroids can cause heavy menstrual bleeding with subsequent anemia, which could be life-threatening. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the Department of Anesthesiology of MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai. The Doctors and nurses theatre record of patients who had surgeries for fibroid were retrospectively reviewed for 5 years. The Nurses’ and Doctors’ theatre records were reviewed for Socio demographics, type of anaesthesia, type of surgery and uterine size. Results: 53.6% patients had Regional anaesthesia (spinal 30.3%, combined spinal/epidural, 23.3% versus 41% for General anaesthesia. It shows a sustained increase in the use of combine spinal epidural anaesthesia, sustained decrease in the use of general anaesthesia while there was a marginal increase in the use of spinal anaesthesia. Conclusion:There was a yearly increase in the use of RA, and a yearly decline in the use of GA. Regional Anaesthesia is the more commonly used mode of anaesthesia for fibroid surgeries in our institution.