Intrauterine balloon tamponade for the control of postpartum haemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of balloon temponade in the management of postpartum haemorrhage.

METHODS

The study was conducted at the Dow University of Health Sciences and Civil Hospital Karachi from January to July 18, 2012, and comprised women aged 18-35 years, parity 1-6 and gestational age 31-41 weeks, who developed or were admitted with primary postpartum haemorrhage due to uterine atony in whom medical treatment had failed. SPSS 10 was used to analyse the data.

RESULTS

The mean age, parity, gestational age of 139 women was 26.4±4.2 years, 3.4±1.3, 37.81±1.67 respectively. Mean estimated blood loss was 1155.8±350.6 ml, mean systolic blood pressure 90.96±18.1 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure 55±7.5 mmHg and mean pulse was 108.3±10.89 bpm. Balloon tamponade was effective in 126(90.4%) cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Condom catheter balloon tamponade was an effective means of controlling postpartum haemorrhage. There should be a low threshold for use of balloon tamponade as it is effective, easy to use, easily available, has low complication rate, and an inexpensive modality to manage non-traumatic postpartum haemorrhage, especially in resource-limited settings, and still maintain reproductive ability.