Outcome Postpartum Hemorrhage Admitted to Obstetric Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Postpartum Hemorrhage (PPH) is one of the major causes of maternal mortalities, and it needs to be management in a high quality center. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with postpartum hemorrhage who admitted to the obstetric ICU of Alzahra Hospital of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, one year records of all patients with PPH were studied their demographic data, details of their primary admission or referral, duration between onset of PPH and arrival, their condition at admission, resuscitative measures, procedures to manage PPH, presence or abscenss of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and its management, duration of ICU stay, and finall outcome were recorded and evaluated. Results: from the total 43 patients with PPH, 29 were admitted to the ICU. 6 were referred from other hospitals and the remaining were admitted in ordinary ward. The time interval between the onset of PPH and arrival was ranged between 2-72 hours. All patients were conscious on arrival. Five patients were hypotensive. Resuscitative measures were included oxygen supplementation, fluid resuscitation and blood transfusion. Hemorrhage was controlled with uterine massage and drug administration in 6 patients, 23 patients underwent surgery. 5 patients had DIC which was managed with blood component therapy. Mean Duration of stay in ICU was 3 days. We didn’t detected in this retrospective study any registered mortality. Conclusion: PPH is one of the most common causes of obstetric ICU admission. If the management of patients with PPH is carried out in a unit with high therapeutic qualities quality, it would lead to low maternal mortality.

Keywords: Postpartum Hemorrhage, ICU, Outcome