Abstract

Spinal anaesthesia is widely used for Caesarean section. This prospective study assessed the respiratory function of 76 parturients presenting for elective caesarean section. They received spinal anaesthesia with the use of 0.5% bupivacaine (heavy). Spirometry was used to measure the lung volumes; Vital Capacity (VC), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) and FEV1/FVC, as a means of assessing lung function before and during spinal anaesthesia. Spirometry was recorded pre-operatively (taken as baseline), immediately after spinal anaesthesia, 20minutes after, at 1 hour and at 2 hours after. There were significant decreases in the spirometric parameters after effective spinal anaesthesia. Then, there were significant recovery in the lung volumes towards the baseline values after an hour under spinal anaesthesia. These lead to the conclusion that spinal anaesthesia significantly affects maternal respiratory function during caesarean section. So there is need to perform a proper preoperative assessment and establish a perioperative pulmonary care regimen especially in patients with respiratory compromise.