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The majority of pregnant women will be treated with a medication other than a vitamin supplement during their pregnancy. Almost half of these medications will be category C or D according to the former US Food and Drug Administration classification system, indicating a lack of human studies with animal studies suggesting adverse fetal effects (category C) or evidence of risk in humans (category D). Changes in maternal physiology alter drug bioavailability, distribution, clearance, and thus the drug half-life in often unpredictable ways. For many drugs, good pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data in pregnancy and parturition are lacking. For other drugs, recent studies demonstrate major pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic changes that require dose adjustment in pregnancy, but current dosing guidelines do not reflect these data. In this review, we address the principles that underlie changes in pharmacology and physiology in pregnancy and provide information on drugs that anesthesiologists commonly encounter in treating pregnant patients.

Patients who present with brain tumors during pregnancy require unique imaging and neurosurgical, obstetrical, and anesthetic considerations. Here, we review the literature and discuss the management of patients who present with brain tumors during pregnancy. Between 2009 and 2019, 9 patients were diagnosed at our institution with brain tumors during pregnancy. Clinical information was extracted from the electronic medical records. The median age at presentation was 29 years (range, 25e38 years). The most common symptoms at presentation included headache (n¼5), visual changes (n¼4), hemiparesis (n¼3), and seizures (n¼3). The median gestational age at presentation was 20.5 weeks (range, 11e37 weeks). Of note, 8 patients (89%) delivered healthy newborns, and 1 patient terminated her pregnancy. In addition, 5 patients (56%) required neurosurgical procedures during pregnancy (gestational ages, 14e37 weeks) because of disease progression (n¼2) or neurologic instability (n¼3). There was 1 episode of postneurosurgery morbidity (pulmonary embolism [PE]) and no surgical maternal mortality. The median length of follow-up was 15 months (range, 6e45 months). In cases demonstrating unstable or progressive neurosurgical status past the point of fetal viability, neurosurgical intervention should be considered. The physiological and pharmacodynamic changes of pregnancy substantially affect anesthetic management. Pregnancy termination should be discussed and offered to the patient when aggressive disease necessitates immediate treatment and the fetal gestational age remains previable, although neurologically stable patients may be able to continue the pregnancy to term. Ultimately, pregnant patients with brain tumors require an individualized approach to their care under the guidance of a multidisciplinary team.