Introduction Bleeding and blood loss associated with pregnancy and delivery remain important causes of morbidity. Although catastrophic bleeding is fairly rare nowadays, haemorrhage, particularly after giving birth, is still one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.' Obstetric haemorrhage may be associated with specific complications of pregnancy or labour, or it may be due to an inherit...

We describe an obstetric patient who presented for removal of a retained placenta. After insertion of the spinal anaesthetic, she developed a severe headache, and a subarachnoid haemorrhage was diagnosed. We discuss the differential diagnosis of the headache, the occurrence of intracranial haemorrhages after dural puncture and the future management of this patient.

AIM To determine the frequency of near-miss (severe acute maternal morbidity) and the nature of near-miss events, and comparatively analysed near-miss morbidities and maternal deaths among pregnant women managed over a 3-year period in a Nigerian tertiary centre. METHODS Retrospective facility-based review of cases of near-miss and maternal death which occurred between 1 January 2002 and 31 D...

Prevention of deaths from obstetric haemorrhage requires effective health systems including family planning, commodities, personnel, infrastructure and ultimately universal access to comprehensive obstetric care for women giving birth. The main causes of death associated with antepartum haemorrhage are placental abruption, placenta praevia and uterine rupture. Preventive measures include precon...

BACKGROUND Globally 166 000 women die annually as a result of obstetric haemorrhage. More than 50% of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Uterine atony is the commonest cause of severe postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). Bleeding at or after caesarean section (CS) is responsible for >30% of maternal deaths due to obstetric haemorrhage in South Africa (SA). OBJECTIVE To compare oxytocin alo...

Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) remains a major cause of maternal deaths worldwide, and is estimated to cause the death of a woman every 10 minutes. This review presents the latest clinical advice, including new evidence on controlled cord traction, misoprostol, and oxytocin. The controversy around the diagnosis of PPH, the limitations of universal prophylaxis, and novel ways to provide obstetric ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the frequency of obstetric hysterectomy, its indications and associated maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. METHODS The retrospective observational analytical study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Unit-I, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from January 2003 to December 2009. Records of all patients who had underone hyster...

Background: Approximately 15% of all pregnancies (about 20 million) suffer from acute severe obstetric complications. The first 24 hours postpartum represent the period with highest chance mortality. most evident complication is haemorrhage, solely accounting for 27% maternal deaths worldwide. Haemorrhage occurring accounts 73% cases. Primary haemorrhage (PPH) defined as loss at least 500 mL bl...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the predictive utility of obstetric risk factors for identifying before the onset of labour those women at high risk of obstetric complications in a developing world setting, where home deliveries predominate and emergency transport is scarce. DESIGN Risk factors derived from two population based, case-control studies (one of cephalopelvic disproportion and one of po...

•A G2P1 with a complicated obstetric history of massive postpartum haemorrhage (7 L)•Monitoring of fibrinogen levels during pregnancy and labour•Fibrinogen suppletion resulted in only 2 L blood loss during the third stage of labour.•This case report and literature show that fibrinogen levels might play a role in massive postpartum hemorrhage.