Anaesthesia for Outpatient Termination of Pregnancy

Abstract

Inhalation anaesthesia with enflurane was compared with i.v. fentanyl for outpatient termination of pregnancy. Blood loss was greater in the enflurane group with a geometric mean loss of 73.0 ml compared with 43.9 ml in the fentanyl group. There was a greater frequency of nausea nd vomiting in the fentanyl group and no reduction in abdominal pain or need for analgesia after operation. A close relationship was found between blood loss and duration of the procedure but not between blood loss and gestational age or gestational age and anaesthetic time. Either technique is satisfactory for outpatient termination of pregnancy in unpremedicated patients. Despite the greater blood losses with enflurane, it is a safe and reliable method of anaesthesia for this procedure, but the concentration and duration of administration should be kept to a minimum.

Day care in gynaecology

“…Also, some patients may be thought unsuitable for day care; a comparison of different techniques of general anaesthesia for minor gynaecological day surgery (Towey et al 1979) showed that over a quarter of patients have headache and nausea when they return home and about half do not feel like returning to normal activities the next day. Gestational age, according to another study by anaesthetists (Hackett et al 1982), is much less important than duration of operation in determin-ing blood loss at termination.…”