TIVA and conventional general anaesthesia in elective C-section: comparative effects on the neonate

A comparative study was carried out on 70 patients, admitted at MH Rawalpindi from January 2003 to April 2003. The object of the study was to compare the effects on the new born of TIVA [total intravenous anaesthesia] using IV Propofol and conventional general anaesthesia. The selection criteria included, pregnant patients of ASA class I aged between 20 and 30 years, undergoing elective caesarean section, having no fetal abnormalities on antenatal ultra sound and incision to delivery time less than 5 minutes. The apgar score of the new born delivered was measured at first minute and fifth minute after birth and it was seen that the average apgar score of the group delivered by TIVA using IV Propofol was 9.63 the other group delivered by using conventional general anesthesia was 7.94. However as the Apgar score is highly subjective, so it was supplemented by observing various neurobehavioral reflexes. This also proved that the newborn babies delivered by TIVA using IV Propofol had higher Neurobehavioral scores as compared to newborns delivered using conventional general anaesthesia