Abstract
Objective
This study was designed to determine the incidence of arterial pseudoaneurysm in patients presenting with postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), to analyze the angiographic characteristics of pseudoaneurysms that cause PPH, and to evaluate the effectiveness of pelvic arterial embolization for the treatment of this condition.
Study design
Eighteen women with pelvic arterial pseudoaneurysm were retrieved from a series of 588 consecutive patients with PPH treated by arterial embolization. Clinical files, angiographic examinations, and procedure details were reviewed.
Results
The incidence of pseudoaneurysm was 3.06 % (18/588; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.82–4.8 %). A total of 20 pseudoaneurysms were found; 15/20 (75 %) were located on the uterine arteries. Angiography revealed extravasation of contrast material from pseudoaneurysm indicating rupture in 9 of 18 (50 %) patients. Arterial embolization was performed using gelatin sponge alone in 12 of 18 (67 %) patients or in association with metallic coils in 5 of 18 (28 %) patients or n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate in 1 of 18 (6 %) patients. Arterial embolization allowed controlling the bleeding in all patients after one or two embolization sessions in 17 of 18 (94 %) and 1 of 18 patients (6 %) respectively, without complications, obviating the need for further surgery.
Conclusions
Pseudoaneurysm is rarely associated with PPH. Arterial embolization is an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of PPH due to uterine or vaginal artery pseudoaneurysm. Our results suggest that gelatin sponge is effective for the treatment of ruptured pseudoaneurysms, although we agree that our series does not contain sufficient material to allow drawing definitive conclusions with respect to the most effective embolic material.
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Conflict of interest
Anthony Dohan, Philippe Soyer, Aqeel Subhani, Delphine Hequet, Yann Fargeaudou, Olivier Morel, Mourad Boudiaf, Etienne Gayat, Emmanuel Barranger, Olivier Le Dref, and Marc Sirol declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Dohan, A., Soyer, P., Subhani, A. et al. Postpartum Hemorrhage Resulting from Pelvic Pseudoaneurysm: A Retrospective Analysis of 588 Consecutive Cases Treated by Arterial Embolization. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 36, 1247–1255 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-013-0668-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-013-0668-1