Abstrait

Postpartum hemorrhage control by double-balloon catheters.

Oroma Beatrice Nwanodi

The overarching goal of PPH control is to prevent maternal mortality [1]. In Africa and Asia, PPH accounts for 30% of pregnancy-associated mortality [2]. The incidence of PPH in cases of placenta previa is 22.3% (95% CI 15.8-28.7%) [2]. North America has the highest rate of placenta previa associated PPH at 26.3%, Asia is mid-range at 20.7%, and Europe the lowest at 17.8% [2]. Globally, placenta previa has a prevalence of 5.2 per 1,000 pregnancies (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 4.5-5.9) [3]. Placenta previa is most prevalent in Asia at 12.2 per 1,000 pregnancies (95% CI: 9.5-15.2) [3]. Thus, even though Asia does not have the highest placenta previa associated PPH rate, given the 30% PPH pregnancy-associated mortality, PPH control is reasonably the focus of studies in Asia [4]. The literature on double-balloon tamponade for PPH in cases of placenta previa reports 88% to 100% success, confirmed by a recent retrospective case series with 112 women that achieved a 97.4% success rate [4]. Mean blood loss was 1983 ? 512.2 mL. There were no postpartum infections. However, as post discharge follow-up is not given: It is unknown if any of these patients subsequently had uneventful pregnancies [4].