Medical prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage: a comparison of different guidelines

Abstract

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) remains a common cause of maternal mortality worldwide, mainly caused by uterine atony. Medical intervention plays an important part in prevention and therapies of PPH. Prophylactic interventions include the use of uterotonic drugs. We elaborated the consistency of national and international guidelines on those medical approaches.

Materials and methods: Medical approaches in PPH were extracted from recent publications. Furthermore, the current guidelines of the World Health Organization, the FIGO and of the American, British, Canadian and German Societies of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on PPH were analyzed.

Results: Oxytocin is considered as therapy of first choice. However, the examined guidelines fail to give unequivocal recommendations on further uterotonics in PPH, which may partially be attributed to differing publication dates of the guidelines.

Conclusion: International guidelines on PPH are characterized by differing recommendations. However, recent publications suggest that adhering to local guidelines significantly reduces the prevalence of severe PPH.