General versus regional anaesthesia for caesarean section: A field study in four Riyadh hospitals, Saudi Arabia.

Aim: To evaluate the preference of patients for elective cesarean section, also to know the most popular mode of anesthesia (spinal or general anesthesia), also to determine the relationship between anaesthesia type for caesarean section and patient satisfaction post-operation, degree of need for postoperative analgesia, and the future choice of type of anesthesia. Method: This was a cross-sectional analytical study. The questionnaire distributed in Arabic on (400) mothers having elective caesarean section at four hospitals in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia Results: Majority of patients (68.70 %) had general anesthesiain the previous caesarean operation, while (68. 50 %) had spinalanesthesia.Also there are a relationship between anaesthesia type for caesarean section and both patient satisfaction after the operation and degree of need for postoperative analgesia, where spinal anesthesia increases both patient satisfaction with anesthesia technique, and degree of patient need for postoperative analgesia after cesarean section. Conclusion: Although spinal anesthesia is safer than general anaesthesia, being safer for both mother and fetus, allows the mother to be awake and immediately interact with her baby, but most of patients like general anesthesia because they are afraid of spinal anesthesia.