Semin Respir Crit Care Med 2017; 38(02): 218-234
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1600910
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA

Obstetric Disorders in the ICU

Daniela N. Vasquez
1   Intensive Care Unit, Sanatorio Anchorena, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
,
Lauren Plante
2   Departments of Anesthesiology and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,
María N. Basualdo
3   Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sanatorio Anchorena, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
,
Gustavo G. Plotnikow
1   Intensive Care Unit, Sanatorio Anchorena, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
› Institutsangaben
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Publikationsverlauf

Publikationsdatum:
22. Mai 2017 (online)

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Abstract

Pregnant and postpartum patients represent a challenge to critical care physicians, as two patients in one have to be cared for and because specific obstetric disorders, not universally covered in formal critical care training, need to be managed. Pregnancy also alters physiologic norms, so that the critical care physician may either fail to recognize a value as abnormal in pregnancy or mistakenly identify as abnormal a value within the normal range for a pregnant woman. In this article, we will review the most frequent obstetric causes of admission of pregnant/postpartum patients to the intensive care unit (hypertensive disease of pregnancy, obstetric hemorrhage, and obstetric sepsis) along with their diagnostic criteria, clinical presentation, and recommended treatment. We will also cover some specific, although less frequent, obstetric disorders, such as acute fatty liver of pregnancy, peripartum cardiomyopathy, and amniotic fluid embolism. Our primary aim is to improve quality of care for these types of patients.