Cardiopulmonary arrest in pregnancy with schizophrenia: a case report

Cardiopulmonary arrest in pregnancy has a very high maternal and fetal mortality rate. We report a case of successful maternal and neonatal survival in association with emergency cesarean section of a schizophrenic pregnant patient. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of cardiopulmonary arrest in a pregnant woman with schizophrenia.

The parents were Japanese. The mother was 39 years old and had no history of prior pregnancy. Her admission to our hospital at 36 weeks and 4 days of pregnancy was due to deterioration of schizophrenia. On the first day of hospitalization, she collapsed after a seizure and vomiting, and an emergency resuscitation team was called immediately. The team identified apparent aspiration and successfully resuscitated the patient after 11 minutes of cardiopulmonary arrest. An emergency cesarean section was performed in the operating room. The newborn male infant received bag and mask ventilation at birth, and his Apgar scores were 5 at 1 minute and 8 at 5 minutes. He had a myoclonic seizure on the 2nd day of life: however, he experienced no further seizures on anticonvulsant medication after that episode. On the 18th day of life, magnetic resonance imaging of his brain revealed bilateral small hyperintensities on T1-weighted images in the basal ganglia. The mother and her newborn were discharged from our hospital without neurological disorders.

We speculate that the cause of cardiopulmonary arrest was aspiration due to seizure, and it is possible that a neurological response was evoked by administration of antipsychotic drugs and/or by eclampsia. Medical staff must be aware of the possibility of cardiopulmonary arrest in pregnant women with schizophrenia.