Effect of althesin anesthesia on blood loss during therapeutic abortion. A comparison with local and thiopental anesthesia.

During recent years, the use of steroid anesthesia has rapidly increased. In our hospital, a number of surgical procedures have been performed under Althesin anesthesia, and in some cases the peroperative bleeding seemed to be rather profuse. Blood loss was studied in 90 healthy women in the first trimester of pregnancy undergoing therapeutic abortion using different types of anesthesia. The patients were divided into three equal groups according to the duration of pregnancy. In each group, 10 patients underwent operation under local anesthesia, 10 under thiopental anesthesia and 10 under Althesin. In all three groups, blood loss was the smallest when local anesthesia was used (Fig 1). Amounting to only one third to one half of that occurring under thiopental anesthesia. Under thiopental anesthesia the blood loss gradually increased with increasing gestational age with moderate variations. Alternatively, in this investigation, Althesin anesthesia was characterized by pronounced blood loss, particularly in the ninth and tenth weeks of pregnancy, and in some cases by rather profuse bleeding. We find that Althesin anesthesia should be used for gynecological surgery only in departments which are equipped to control profuse bleeding and possible cardiovascular complications.