| The Effects of General , Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia on Maternal and Umbilical Cord Plasma beta- endorphin Level. |
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Jong Hak Kim |
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Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. |
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| Abstract |
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of induction of general, spinal and epidural anesthesia on maternal and cord plasma beta-endorphin level in order to determine which mode of anesthesia is more stressful to the pregnant women and fetus. Immunoreactive beta-endorphin levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in 56 maternal and /or cord plasma obtained from 40 pregnant women underwent cesarean section(15 under general anesthesia, 13 under spinal anesthesia, 12 under epidural anesthesia) and 16 normal pregnant women at term. The results were as follows: 1) The maternal plasma beta-endorphin level immediately prior to induction of general anesthesia was significantly higher than that in normal term pregnant women and before induction of epidural anesthesia. 2) No significant difference in maternal plasma beta-endorphin level between normal pregnant women at term and women before induction of spinal or epidural anesthesia was noted. 3) The maternal plasma endorphin level increased significantly after induction regardless of mode of anesthesia. The percent rise in maternal plasma beta-endorphin level with general anesthesia was significantly higher than that with epidural anesthesia. 4) The umbilical plasma beta-endorphin level was not affected by the mode of anesthesia. These data suggest that cesarean section under general anesthesia may be more stressful to the pregnant women than that under epidural anesthesia when circulating plasma endorphin is utilized as a maker of stress. |
| Key Words:
beta-endorphin; Stress marker; Cesarean section; Anesthesia |
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