[Cardiocirculatory Incidents During Pregnancy - a Precarious Setting for Resuscitation - Obstetric Emergencies

Alexander Strauss1, Jan-Thorsten Gräsner2

  • 1Medizinische Fakultät, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.

Collapse and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) threaten people of all sexes. Although their incidence positively correlates with age, even pregnant women can (rarely) be affected by such cardiovascular emergencies. Transient alterations in maternal circulation caused by vena cava compression syndrome and collapse are to be distinguished from SCA. Each of these individual events requires immediate, coordinated, multidisciplinary emergency team deployment. Different algorithms, available for a quick initial assessment and an immediate start of pregnancy-specific cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) up to perimortem cesarean delivery (PMCD), determine the maternal and subsequently the fetal prognosis. Interdisciplinary/interprofessional simulation training units are efficient to qualify specialized emergency teams.

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