[Maternal deaths due to anesthesia complications. Results from the French confidential enquiry into maternal deaths, 2010-2012]

Abstract

Over the period 2010-2012, maternal mortality linked to anesthesia accounted for 2% of maternal deaths, with no significant change since 2007-2009. Of the 7 maternal deaths analyzed by the expert committee, anesthetic complications were in 5 cases the main cause of death: 4 attributed to direct causes related to anesthetic procedures during childbirth and 1 to indirect cause in connection with an ENT complication during pregnancy. The anesthetic causes of maternal mortality were for the 2010-2012 period: cardiac arrest under spinal anesthesia during caesarean section, local anesthetic intoxication with unsuccessful resuscitation after cardiac arrest without intralipid administration, acute respiratory distress syndrome in the postpartum period after pulmonary aspiration during caesarean section, cardiac arrest during caesarean section under general anesthesia in a context of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with mediastinal syndrome, unsuccessful endotracheal intubation in a context of cellulitis of the oral cavity floor. In two other cases, anesthetic complications were identified as associated causes of death, the primary cause being intracerebral hemorrhage stroke and pulmonary hypertension. In most of the cases analyzed over the period 2010-2012, anesthesia and resuscitation have been involved in the occurrence of maternal deaths, mainly through strategic errors in the management of patients with severe pathology before delivery, as well as through insufficient cardiac resuscitation duration after cardiac arrest.

Keywords: Anesthesia; Anesthésie; France; Maternal death; Mortalité maternelle; Quality of care; Qualité des soins.