Anesthetic management of a patient with Sheehan's syndrome and twin pregnancy while undergoing a cesarean section

• Main Authors: G Arora, N Sahni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: Journal of Postgraduate Medicine
• Subjects: anesthesia; hypopituitarism; obstetrical; postpartum; sheehan syndrome
• Online Access: http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=2020;volume=66;issue=1;spage=51;epage=53;aulast=Arora

Sheehan's syndrome (SS) is caused by infarction of the pituitary gland usually precipitated by hypotension due to massive uterine hemorrhage during the peripartum period. Once SS develops, it becomes a major comorbidity for the young females and predisposes them to further medical, obstetric, and anesthetic complications. Herein, we report the perioperative anesthetic management of a 28-year-old female, already diagnosed with SS precipitated by urosepsis and septicemic shock in a previous pregnancy, now presenting with twin pregnancy for elective cesarean section. Her magnetic resonance imaging brain revealed pituitary apoplexy and she had hypothyroidism with gestational diabetes mellitus. The overall successful perioperative management of the patient is described along with an emphasis on aggressive management of hypotension due to any cause in the peripartum period to prevent infarction/necrosis of anterior pituitary gland.