[Crisis management during obstetric surgery]

Obstetric crisis includes hemorrhagic shock, embolisms and difficult airway. Life will be rapidly threatened with disseminated intravascular coagulation, multiple organ failure or systemic inflammatory response syndrome in these crises. In the face of the crisis, repeated evaluation of parturients and differential diagnosis are necessary along with fetal heart monitoring. For evaluation of bleeding, one should notice that the visual estimation of vaginal bleeding does not reflect the extent of intravascular volume deficit. Treatments for hemorrhagic shock include fluid replacement, blood transfusion as well as fresh frozen plasma, platelet, anticoagulants, anti-thrombin III, and protease inhibitors. When bleeding is still uncontrollable, arterial embolization or hysterectomy will be considered. Embolic disorders are another cause of maternal mortality. The signs and symptoms are all similar (dyspnea, cyanosis and sudden cardiovascular collapse). Strategies against the embolism will be basically symptomatic therapy. The physiological change with pregnancy results in the need of careful pre-anesthetic airway evaluation for parturients. A difficult or failed intubation drill is also extremely important. Recently, laryngeal mask airway has been successfully used in these parturients. During resuscitation of a pregnant woman, left uterine displacement is essential. For a patient who has not responded after 4 to 5 minutes of ACLS, immediate cesarean delivery should be considered.