Good news if you have an epidural or spinal block during a C-section: They could be safer than ever. Indeed, over the past 10 years, complications from those procedures went down 25 percent. The rate of overall complications in women who had those forms of anesthesia fell from 8.9 per 1,000 women in 2003 down to 6.6 per 1,000 in 2012. Cynthia A. Wong, M.D., one of the researchers, says most women receive a neuroaxial anesthesia, such as an epidural or spinal block (or a combination of both) to relieve pain during a C-section.
(An epidural provides continuous medication; a spinal block is a one-time shot. Sometimes physicians use a combination of both types of anesthesia.) General anesthesia, which makes you unconscious during the procedure, is used in some emergency situations or in cases where mothers have certain types of infections. Why complications are down? Though Dr. Wong's…
