Background: Placental abruption commonly occurrs in the last months of pregnancy. The current, diagnosis and treatment method of placental abruption is considerably more improved thanks to medical advances. This is still a dangerous emergency in obstetrics, however, causing severe complications for maternal and high neonatal mortality. Objective: Describe some clinical and para-clinical characteristics of placental abruption at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 01/01/2005 to 12/09/2006. Subject and methods: A retrospective cross sectional study is conducted on 30 patients with confirmed diagnosis of placental abruption after Cesarean section or delivery from 01/01/2005 to 12/09/2006. Results: Gestational age <34 weeks: 40%; 34-37 weeks: 40%; >37 weeks: 20%. Clinical signs: abdominal pain: 83.3%, vaginal bleeding: 60%, pre-eclampsia: 23.3%, shock: 3.3%, frequency of contractions: 74.1%, uterine hypertonus: 33.3%, uterine tetany: 36.7%, bloody amniotic fluid: 36.7%, fetal demise: 40%, fetal distress: 26.7%. Para-clinical signs: red blood cells <3 millions: 26.7%, heamoglobin <90g/l: 20.7%, fibrinogen <2g/l: 23.3%, retroplacental haematoma in ultrasound: 47.8%. Apoplexy lesions in the uterus: serious and extensive: 46.6%, mild: 26.7%, no lesion: 26.7%. Conclusions: Placental abruption often occurred in premature delivery, clinical signs have high diagnostic values, para-clinical signs have limited diagnostic values and in most of the cases have shown apoplexia lesions in the uterus.
placental abruption ; clinical signs ; para-clinical signs