Unnecessary emergency Caesarean section due to silent CTG during anaesthesia?

We present a case of a probably unnecessary Caesarean section due to misint erpretation of the cardiotocography (CTG) trace during general anaesthesia. A 27-yr-old patient in her 30th week of an uneventful, normal first pregna ncy presented with a deep venous thrombosis in the pelvic region. She was t o undergo an emergency thrombectomy under general anaesthesia. During the o peration, the CTG showed a lack of beat-to-beat heart rate variation (silen t pattern CTG) with normal fetal heart rate. This silent CTG pattern was pr obably a result of the effect of general anaesthesia on the fetus. The CTG pattern was interpreted as indicating fetal distress, and an emergency Caes arean section was performed after the thrombectomy. The infant was apnoeic and had to be resuscitated and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit . The pH at delivery was 7.23 and the baby was extubated 2 days later. Moth er and child recovered without short-term sequelae. In the absence of alter native explanations, reduced fetal beat-to-beat variability with a normal b aseline heart rate during general anaesthesia is probably normal.