This article reviews our experience with the use of intrauterine tamponade with balloon catheters in the management of severe postpartum hemorrhage. This is a case series report of 23 patients with postpartum hemorrhage unresponsive to medical therapy managed with intrauterine balloon tamponade. We identified these patients by International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) codes and by review...

During the past several years, a number of new and simple techniques have been developed in the attempt to avoid major surgical procedures for treatment of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). In addition, a variety of surgical and radiological options have been proposed to avoid hysterectomy. Unfortunately, a suitable conservative technique is still lacking for all situations1, and it is well recogniz...

Every year, 14 million cases of obstetric hemorrhage occur worldwide, causing 127,000 maternal deaths. About 75% of postpartum hemorrhage cases are due to atonic uterus, which is loss of uterine muscular tone or strength for contraction of the uterus after delivery. The prediction of atonic uterus is therefore important for the prevention of postpartum maternal death. However, prediction of occ...

Major obstetric hemorrhage is an extremely challenging obstetric emergency associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Pharmacological treatment of uterine atony has not altered much in recent years apart from the increasing use ofmisoprostol, although controversy surrounds its advantages over other uterotonics. Placenta accreta is becoming more common, a sequel to the rising caesarean...

Morbidly adherent placenta is a rare clinical condition resulting from abnormally invasive implantation of the placenta into the uterine substance and potentially into the surrounding organs (percreta). We report a case of invasive placentation extending through the uterine wall into the bladder and causing primary and recurrent secondary postpartum hemorrhage. It is emphasized that to avoid ca...

OBJECTIVES The World Health Organization considers Cesarean section rates of 5-15% to be the optimal range for targeted provision of this life saving intervention. However, access to safe Cesarean section in resource-limited settings is much lower, estimated at 1-2% reported in sub-Saharan Africa. This study reports Cesarean sections rates and indications in Democratic Republic of Congo, Burund...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the outcomes of bilateral internal iliac artery ligation (IIAL) in severe postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). DESIGN Multi-center retrospective study. METHODS The study was performed from January 2005 to December 2010, at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic, Dicle University Medical Faculty and Maternity Hospital, Diyarbakir, Turkey. Life-threatening cases of severe postpart...

Abnormal placentation is associated with increased maternal morbidity and mortality. Placenta accreta (PA) is one of the most feared complications in obstetrics; it occurs when the placenta is abnormally adherent to the uterus. PA is defined as the penetration of trophoblastic tissue into the myometrium. The incidence of PA has been reported to be as much as one in 533 pregnancies, based on Wu ...

We employed a novel mouse line that expresses low levels of human tissue factor (TF) in the absence of murine TF to analyze the role of TF in gestation. Low-TF female mice had a 14-18% incidence of fatal postpartum uterine hemorrhage, suggesting that TF plays an important role in uterine hemostasis. Low-TF female mice mated with low-TF male mice had a 42% incidence of fatal midgestational hemor...

OBJECTIVE To report an extremely rare case of spontaneous uterine perforation of choriocarcinoma with negative beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) post-chemotherapy. CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION We present a 35-year-old choriocarcinoma patient whose serial serum β-hCG levels following a fifth course of chemotherapy had been within the normal range, but who developed spontaneou...