When considering surgery on a pregnant woman, doctors have to look at many different potential risks. According to a new study, for pregnant women who may have to go under for gallbladder or appendix surgery, an increased risk of infections may not be one of the issues to worry about.
Comparing risk factors
Doctors have long assumed that being pregnant could increase a woman's risk during these types of surgeries, however there was little to no reliable data on whether or not this was true. This is why a team of researchers decided to look at the actual numbers and see if pregnant women really did face a greater risk of infection during gallbadder and appendix surgeries than non-pregnant women.
Dr. Elisabeth Erekson, a professor at Yale School of Medicine, and her colleagues decided to look into the outcomes of actual surgeries to see if there really was a connection. The researchers collected data from 1,300 pregnant women and 51,000 similarly aged women who weren't pregnant who had undergone surgeries to remove their gallbladders or appendixes. The study, published in the December 2011 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology found no risk increase for the pregnant women.
According to Reuters, of the pregnant women only four out of 100 pregnant women who had undergone surgery for their appendix faced complications after the surgeries. For non-pregnant women, the rates were three out of 100. Similarly, pregnant women who had undergone surgery to remove their gallbladders only faced complications afterwards at a rate of two out of 100, the exact same complication rate that non-pregnant women faced with the same surgery.
Complications were listed as infection, an embolism, death, heart attack, or a return to the operating room.
Pregnancy is no reason to avoid health care
The biggest result of this study is the proof that pregnant women should not avoid surgery simply because they are pregnant. While women should discuss with their doctors the potential health concerns of having surgery during pregnancy, the studied complications do not seem to be an issue that would complicate a normal, healthy pregnancy.
Fetal health still unknown
Despite the good news that this study offers, some women may still be leery before signing up for surgery. Erekson, the lead author in the study, says that earlier studies have found that during surgery, a fetus does well under anesthesia. However, some doctors would like to see larger studies that track the outcomes of these infants. Researchers are still not clear on whether or not these surgeries pose any significant health problems to children, problems which might not arise until later in the pregnancy or after birth.
Women who are facing surgery during pregnancy should discuss all their options, as well as the risks, with their doctors before deciding on a course of action.
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