Update: Focus in-hospital maternal cardiac arrest

Abstract

The incidence of maternal cardiac arrest ranges from 1/55,000 to 1/12,000 births. It is due most frequently to cardiovascular, hemorrhagic, and anesthesia-related causes, as well as to amniotic fluid embolism. The basic principles of resuscitation remain applicable in this situation, but the physiological modifications of pregnancy must be taken into account, in particular, the aortocaval compression syndrome. After 24 weeks of gestation, a salvage cesarean delivery must be performed immediately, without transfer to the operating room, if resuscitation maneuvers have failed 4 min after arrest, because this interval conditions the mother's neurological prognosis and improves neonatal survival.