Abstract
Aim According to the World Health Organization, approximately 810 pregnant
women die every day as a consequence of peripartum complications. A large
proportion of deaths happen in developing countries. Peripartum cardiac arrest
is a rare event that must be treated immediately. It is important to consider
the differential diagnoses in order to save lives.
Methods In this review, we discuss a differential diagnosis of cardiac
arrest according to the BEAU-CHOPS scheme of the American Heart Association in
the relation to the case report of our 40-year-old G5/P3 patient who
went into cardiac arrest during cesarean delivery.
Results Typical differentials for cardiac arrest during labor are
bleeding, embolism, anesthetic complications, cardiovascular diseases,
eclampsia, and sepsis. All of them were considered and ruled out in this
patient. In the end, we suspect that physiological cardio-inhibitory reflexes
triggered by sudden profound hypovolemia after placental separation along with
the patientʼs risk factors, especially obesity and maternal age, and the
administration of spinal anesthesia all potentially contributed to the cardiac
arrest.
Conclusions This review highlights that the cardiac arrest during labor
can be triggered by the multifactorial etiology, but firstly the typical
differential diagnosis needs to be excluded.
Key words
asystole - cardiac arrest - caesarean section - labor
