Effect of anesthesia for repeat cesarean section on postoperative infectious morbidity.

It has been suggested that general anesthesia is a risk factor for postcesarean infectious morbidity. A retrospective review of 206 women who underwent repeat cesarean delivery at Duke University Medical Center was conducted. Group 1 consisted of 106 patients whose repeat cesarean section was performed with regional anesthesia, and group 2 included 100 patients whose repeat cesarean section was performed with general anesthesia. Group 2 patients were more likely to be of low socioeconomic status. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to multiple indexes of postoperative fever or infection, including febrile morbidity, diagnosis of infection, use of therapeutic antibiotics, fever index, and postoperative hospital stay. General anesthesia, as administered to patients in the present series, does not increase the risk of infectious morbidity after repeat cesarean delivery.