Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Instrumentation of Near-term Fetal Sheep for Multivariate Chronic Non-anesthetized Recordings
Published on: October 25, 2015
Perimortem cesarean section
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Valley Medical Center, Fresno, CA 93702.
Perimortem cesarean section probably represents an underemphasized procedure on the skills list of the emergency physician. Although fraught with emotional and medicolegal overtones, the procedure can yield viable infants in at least 15% of cases and occasionally alters maternal hemodynamics so as to restore the pulse in a clinically dead woman. This article reviews the physiology and hemodynamics of the maternal-fetal unit and discusses prognostic factors for the survival of healthy mother and infant, leading to recommendations for when to perform a perimortem cesarean section. The article then describes the technical aspects of the procedure.
Perimortem cesarean section probably represents an underemphasized procedure on the skills list of the emergency physician. Although fraught with emotional and medicolegal overtones, the procedure can yield viable infants in at least 15% of cases and occasionally alters maternal hemodynamics so as to restore the pulse in a clinically dead woman. This article reviews the physiology and hemodynamics of the maternal-fetal unit and discusses prognostic factors for the survival of healthy mother and infant, leading to recommendations for when to perform a perimortem cesarean section. The article then describes the technical aspects of the procedure.
