Stephanie Kuleba's Death: How Safe is Anesthesia?

Generally, anesthesia lowers the blood pressure. With regional and general anesthesia procedures, doctors constantly monitor the heart rate and blood pressure and administer pressure-altering drugs in combination with the anesthesia to keep the parameters within the normal range.

In rare cases, blood pressure and heart rate may shoot up to extreme levels with anesthesia - a problem thought to be a result of certain genetic defects. Last week, Stephanie Kuleba, 18, died from reaction to anesthesia during an ordinary breast augmentation surgery. ABC News reports that the anesthesia triggered malignant hyperthermia - a condition in which the heart-rate, metabolism and consequently the body temperature rise enough to be fatal.

In many cases, even if not fatal, there may be serious side-effects. A friend who had a no known medical problems met with a serious fate believed to be caused by anesthetics during her C-section. She was 24 years old and in the 39th week of gestation. The baby was breach, so she had to undergo a C-section. Her doctors at a hospital in Maryland found that her blood tests and blood pressure were normal prior to starting the procedure. They delivered an initial test dose of anesthesia in her epidural space. When there was no adverse reaction, more anesthesia was administered through a catheter for about an hour. About the time she experienced the required degree of numbness in her limbs, she also started experiencing sudden breathlessness. Her heart rate had shot up beyond 120/minute and blood pressure had exceeded 260/125 mmHg. The baby's heart rate had also registered a marked increase. Her condition was considered critical.

The C-section itself was postponed by several hours and all efforts concentrated on ensuring that normal heart-rate was restored in the mother and her baby. The doctors administered pressure-lowering drugs immediately. After about four hours, her pressure and heart-rate returned to normal. The doctors resumed the administration of epidural anesthetics and started the C-section. Her blood pressure and heart rate stayed normal through the surgery. After 2 hours of a surgery which was complicated by the baby's position, she delivered a healthy daughter. The baby had a slightly elevated blood-pressure and heart rate at birth. But all parameters returned within the normal range in a few hours.

My friend had endured a very difficult delivery. The doctors were glad they could save both the mom and the baby. The doctors believed that my friend had a negative reaction to anesthesia. My friend had a difficult recovery. She felt traumatized by this experience for a long time. She also had some of the more common side effects of epidural anesthesia for weeks after the surgery - she suffered from a temporary loss of urinary bladder control and postpartum backache. She also experienced frequent headaches and nausea due to a cerebro-spinal fluid leak from a dural tear in the region where the epidural injection had been injected. The leak did not self-heal and went unnoticed for months. Finally she had to get an epidural blood patch where blood is injected in the region of the leak to plug it.

Anesthesia has been a life saver for most but deadly for a few. Research must establish definitive ways to assess the effect of anesthesia on a given patient. Otherwise, a patient may walk into the hospital for a minor surgery and may never walk out!