Spreu A, et al. - The outcome of selective pelvic arterial embolisation (PAE) in women with severe postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is assessed in this study. This is the first controlled study evaluating the effectiveness of PAE for the treatment of PPH. This information propose that PAE is successful for the treatment of severe PPH. In the perspective of lack of complications and unwarranted impacts, clinical utilization of PAE in severe PPH appears to be justified, especially in perspective of the life-threatening condition and the potential to preserve fertility in influenced patients. Further proof from well-designed prospective randomized-controlled trials would be nevertheless desirable in the future.

Methods

• For this research, they performed a retrospective, controlled, single-center cohort study.
• They incorporated total 16 consecutive women with PPH who underwent therapeutic PAE.
• As the historical control group, they included 22 women with similar severity of PPH who were managed without PAE.
• Outcome measures included the necessity of surgical interventions, for example, postpartum hysterectomy and laparotomy after vaginal delivery, the amount of red blood cell transfusions, and hematologic findings after the procedure.

Results

• The current study showed that PAE was successful in stopping PPH and preserving the uterus in all 16 women in the study group.
• No woman in the PAE group required a postpartum hysterectomy, whereas postpartum hysterectomy was unavoidable in two women in the control group.
• Laparotomy after vaginal delivery was necessary in two women of the group without embolisation.
• Hematologic parameters after the treatment were better in the PAE group than in the control group, although these differences were only in part statistically significant.
• There were no unwarranted impacts of PAE identifiable in the study group.