Pharmacogenetics in obstetric anesthesia

The 21st century has been billed as the era of “precision/personalized medicine.” Genetic investigation of clinical syndromes may guide therapy as well as reveal previously unknown biological or pharmacological pathways that may result in novel drug therapies. Several clinical issues in obstetrics and obstetric anesthesiology have been targets for genetic investigations. These include evaluation of the genetic effects on preterm labor and the progression of labor, spinal anesthesia-induced hypotension and the response to medications used to treat hypotension, and the effect of gene variants on pain and analgesic responses. Most studies have examined specific single nucleotide polymorphisms. Findings have revealed modest effects of genetic variation without tangible impact on current clinical practice. Over the next decade, increased availability of whole exome and genome sequencing, epigenetics, large genetic databases, computational biology and other information technology, and more rapid methods of real-time genotyping may increase the impact of genetics in the clinical arena of obstetrics and obstetric anesthesia.