Pregnant women with significant medical conditions: anaesthetic implications

Anaesthetic assessment plays a vital role in the successfulmanagement of the pregnant patient with coexisting medical diseases.This has been highlighted by successive reports of the ConfidentialEnquiries into Maternal Deaths (CEMD). Advances in medical carehave resulted in an increasing number of women with concomitantdiseases becoming pregnant. The effects of the physiologicalchanges of pregnancy on the disease must be given due considerationin patient evaluation and management. In this review, some ofthe common problems will be discussed.