Gastric pressure during emergency caesarean section under general anaesthesia

Abstract

Gastric pressure and volume were measured in 20 pregnant women during emergency Caesarean section under general anaesthesia with neuromuscular block. Mean gastric pressure was 11 (range 4-19) mm Hg and we can predict that 99% of women undergoing emergency Caesarean section with neuromuscular block are likely to have gastric pressures of less than 25 mm Hg (mean + 3 SD). This has implications for the amount of cricoid pressure required during induction of anaesthesia. Gastric pressure increased during delivery to 19 mm Hg and fundal pressure caused a gastric pressure of 65 mm Hg in one woman. Gastric pressure decreased significantly after delivery (P < 0.001) to 8 mm Hg. Although we measured large gastric volumes (mean 112 (range 20-350) ml), there was no correlation between gastric volume and gastric pressure.