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Incidence of Difficult Airway and Difficult Neuraxial Placement in Obstetric Patients

Prospective Observation Study of Incidence of Difficult Airway and Difficult Neuraxial Placement in Obstetric Patients

Who can join

All ages · Women · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant woman presenting for vaginal or cesarean delivery

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant woman presenting for vaginal or cesarean delivery requiring urgent or emergent delivery

About the study

Anesthesiologists commonly administer pain relief during labor or providing anesthesia for cesarean delivery. Two main methods are used to achieve these goal: "Regional anesthesia" where the mother is given medication through a needle or catheter in her back and the mother is kept awake, or "General anesthesia", where the mother is given intravenous medication and is kept asleep.

Regional anesthesia uses a needle to enter a narrow space in the mother's back where medications can be given. In some patients, it takes longer to find this target space in the back. In emergency situation, however, there is often little time to find this space, and the backup method would be the general anesthesia technique.

If general anesthesia is required, a breathing tube needs to be inserted to help support the mother's breathing. In some patients, it is harder to insert the breathing tubes, so knowing this in advanced helps anesthesiologists create a safe plan for the patients. A lot of research has been done to determine factors that would predict which patients would need more time and preparation for general anesthesia and regional anesthesia.

The purpose of this study is to study how common it is for the pregnant patients who have a difficult regional and general anesthesia.

Sponsor: Brigham and Women's Hospital · Participants: 400 · Started: Jul 1, 2014

Contact the study team

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT02193542

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.