CYCLOPROPANCE AND CASESAREAN SECTION

In a prospective study 589 patients were anaesthetized by the inhalation of cyclopropane 40% for 2–3 min. Relaxation was provided with suxamethonium and anaesthesia was maintained with cyclo–propane 7.5%. The series was divided into four groups: patients in optimal condition (96 elective (group 1), 164 emergency (group 3)) and those not in optimal condition (75 elective (group 2), 254 emergency (group 4)). All infants from groups 1 and 3 had high Apgar scores, and all survived. Infants in groups 2 and 4 had lower Apgar scores, eight and 96 respectively were depressed, and 10 and 20 died because of obstetric and neonatal factors unrelated to the anaesthesia. Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) developed in 44 infants. Among 29 infants in whom the birth weight was less than 2.5 kg the mortality was 31%, whereas no death occurred in mature infants. RDS was significantly more frequent after elective than after emergency surgery. Neonatal depression was independent of the length of the induction-delivery interval, which averaged 13.3 min. The frequency of awareness was 1.5%.