[Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pregnant women: peculiarities]

This review main purpose is to show nursing the present knowledge about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in pregnant women because of the scarce information published by Spanish Nursing Publications. The bibliographical research was made using both the Medline (from January 1982 to March 1998) and Index de Enfermería databases. There, we can find 32 references from which only 23 were selected (all of them belong to the Medline database) in spite of 3 chapters that had already been selected from other different books. Although maternal cardiac arrest rarely happens during pregnancy, it is very important for sanitary staff to be familiarized with the specifics thecnics and equipment (ultrasound and cardiotocograph monitoring). This review describes the physiological changes that take place during pregnancy and have an incidence into CPR. The article also includes the conclusions about the checked papers and the peculiarities that have to be taken into account in each CPR, such as the fetal viability evaluation, right CPR position, airway and breathing, desfibrillation, external cardiac compression and use of pharmacologic therapy and intravenous fluids. Moreover, there is a special mention of the perimortem cesarean delivery features: antecedents, foetus-maternals consequences and managements, due to the fact that this surgical operation should be included inside the CPR protocols of the pregnant.