The daily-practiced post-partum hemorrhage management: an Italian multidisciplinary attended protocol

Abstract

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is one of the most frequent causes of mortality and morbidity in the obstetric population globally, causing about a quarter of maternal deaths yearly, and is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. The management of PPH remains a topic of great debate, even in view of new diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in recent years, for which, however, the body of evidence available thus far is still scarce, as the standard values are lacking. The protocol hereby presented was developed after a literature review and during several meetings of an Italian multidisciplinary task group of specialists adopting a modified Delphi method, and is the result of the synthesis of therapeutic operational protocols for the treatment of PPH applied by the different specialties within the team. This protocol is intended to represent a practical proposal to support clinicians in the management of a particularly complex event that requires the intervention of a multidisciplinary team and the implementation of dedicated management protocols.

Keywords: Blood components; Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH); Protocol; Thromboelastography; Thromboelastometry; Transfusion.