Fetal monitoring in pregnant mares submitted to inhalational anesthesia

• Grant number: 18/09347-7
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Renata Gebara Sampaio Dória
• Grantee: Pedro Henrique Salles Brito
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In veterinary medicine several times we need to perform emergency surgical procedures in pregnant animals. In these cases, fetal monitoring during the anesthetic procedure is rarely performed and currently there are several opinions on which method would be the most appropriate for performing this follow-up. When we speak of equines, these averages are even higher, mainly caused by acute abdomen with surgical resolution, being in this case even more aggravated by the systemic alterations originating from the pathology involved. Even in human medicine, adequate fetal monitoring is not usually performed, but monitoring is recommended by ultrasonography and an obstetric team needs to be ready to intervene when identifying fetal suffering. Generally only elective surgeries that do not takes risk to the fetus are performed, avoiding the maximum the general anesthesia, or when they are emergencies. The main parameter that evaluates fetal suffering is heart rate, which is directly correlated to fetal cardiac output and can be easily assessed ultrasonographically or by fetal-maternal electrocardiogram. This project proposes to submit healthy mares in the final third of gestation to general inhalation anesthesia and to use abdominal ultrasound, maternal-fetal electrocardiogram, umbilical artery doppler and serial hemogasometry of the aminiotic fluid in order to predict the best method of fetal monitoring during anesthesia and compare to maternal monitoring.