Perimortem caesarean section

Abstract

Maternal cardiopulmonary arrest is a very rare event whose prognosis might depend on the response to the event. We present the case of an unbooked G5P4 who had an arrest following two eclamptic fits. She had an on-site perimortem cesarean section and was delivered of a live female baby with a birth weight of 4.95 kg. She was subsequently transferred to the intensive care unit where she later died 5 days postdelivery. The baby was discharged home 4 days postdelivery with no neurological deficit. In managing such cases, multidisciplinary management must be the approach from the point of making the diagnosis to performing a resuscitative hysterotomy, as such reducing cardiac arrest delivery interval to the barest minimum.

Keywords

• cardiopulmonary arrest
• eclampsia
• perimortem caesarean section
• resuscitative hysterotomy