[Experiences with intravenous sulprostone administration in massive postpartal hemorrhage]

Forty-three patients at the University Gynecology Clinic in Charlottenburg were given the prostaglandin E2 derivative sulprostone for severe postpartal hemorrhage. It was administered intravenously in a dose of 1.7 mcg/min (100 mcg/100 ml/h), with short-term increases to three times this amount in isolated cases. The drug proved highly efficacious (rapid onset and lasting effect). In 80% of the cases there were no side effects. Rises in body temperature occurred in six patients and in one patient a venous irritation developed in the arm into which the drug was infused. An RDS occurred, though it was considered that there was not necessarily a causal connection between this and the sulprostone infusion. In the authors' experience this drug has an established place in the treatment of atonic postpartal hemorrhage emergencies.