Incidence of Difficult Airway and Difficult Neuraxial Placement in Obstetric Patients

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.