title: Neuraxial Anesthesia in Parturients with Low Platelet Counts.
abstract: The obstetric anesthesiologist must consider the risk of spinal-epidural hematoma in patients with thrombocytopenia when choosing to provide neuraxial anesthesia. There are little data exploring this complication in the parturient. In this single-center retrospective study of 20,244 obstetric patients, the incidence of peripartum thrombocytopenia (platelet count <100,000/mm) was 1.8% (368 patients). Of these patients, 69% (256) received neuraxial anesthesia. No neuraxial hematoma occurred in any of our patients. The upper 95% confidence limit for spinal-epidural hematoma in patients who received neuraxial anesthesia with a platelet count of <100,000/mm was 1.2%.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Anesthesiology, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; and †Department of Anesthesiology, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Madelyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kahana
authors.forename: Naum
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shaparin
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davila-Velazquez
mesh_terms: D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D046748:Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D036801:Parturition; D018579:Patient Selection; D010976:Platelet Count; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis