[Maternal mortality due to cardiovascular diseases in France 2016-2018]. / Mortalité maternelle par pathologies cardiovasculaires en France 2016­2018.

Between 2016 and 2018, cardiovascular diseases were responsible for 41 deaths, making it the leading cause of maternal death within 42 days postpartum in France. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) for cardiovascular disease is 1.8 per 100,000 NV, a non-significant increase compared with the 2013-2015 triennium (MMR of 1.5 per 100,000 NV). Deaths from cardiac causes accounted for the majority (n=28), with 26 deaths secondary to cardiac disease aggravated by pregnancy (indirect deaths) and 2 deaths related to peripartum cardiomyopathy (direct deaths). Deaths from vascular causes (n=13) corresponded to 9 aortic dissections and 4 ruptures of large vessels, including 3 ruptures of the splenic artery. Preventability of death (possible or probable) was found in 56% of cases compared with 66% in the previous triennium. Care was considered sub-optimal in 57% of cases, down from 72% in the 2013-2015 triennium. In women with known cardiovascular disease, the areas for improvement concern multidisciplinary follow-up, repeated assessment of the cardiovascular risk (WHO grade) and early referral to an expert centre (expert cardiologists, obstetricians, anaesthetists and intensive care). In all pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, a cardiovascular etiology should be considered in the presence of suggestive symptoms (dyspnea, chest or abdominal pain). Ultrasound "point of care" examination (fluid effusions, cardiac dysfunction) and cardiac enzymes assay can help in the diagnosis. Finally, the woman must be involved in her own care.

Timing and Preventability of Cardiovascular-Related Maternal Death.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical profile, management, and potential preventability of maternal cardiovascular deaths. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, descriptive study of all maternal deaths resulting from a cardiovascular disease during pregnancy or up to 1 year after the end of pregnancy in France from 2007 to 2015. Deaths were identified through the nationwide permanent enhanced maternal mortality surveillance system (ENCMM [Enquête Nationale Confidentielle sur les Morts Maternelles]). Women were classified into four groups based on the assessment of the national experts committee: those who died of a cardiac condition and those who died of a vascular condition and, within these two groups, whether the condition was known before the acute event. Maternal characteristics, clinical features and components of suboptimal care, and preventability factors, which were assessed with a standard evaluation form, were described among those four groups. RESULTS: During the 9-year period, 103 women died of cardiac or vascular disease, which corresponds to a maternal mortality ratio from these conditions of 1.4 per 100,000 live births (95% CI 1.1-1.7). Analyses were conducted on 93 maternal deaths resulting from cardiac (n=70) and vascular (n=23) disease with available data from confidential inquiry. More than two thirds of these deaths occurred in women with no known pre-existing cardiac or vascular condition. Among the 70 deaths resulting from a cardiac condition, 60.7% were preventable, and the main preventability factor was a lack of multidisciplinary prepregnancy and prenatal care for women with a known cardiac disease. For those with no known pre-existing cardiac condition, preventability factors were related mostly to inadequate prehospital care of the acute event, in particular an underestimation of the severity and inadequate investigation of the dyspnea. Among the 23 women who died of a vascular disease, three had previously known conditions. For women with no previously known vascular condition, 47.4% of deaths were preventable, and preventability factors were related mostly to wrong or delayed diagnosis and management of acute intense chest or abdominal pain in a pregnant woman. CONCLUSION: Most maternal deaths attributable to cardiac or vascular diseases were potentially preventable. The preventability factors varied according to the cardiac or vascular site and whether the condition was known before pregnancy. A more granular understanding of the cause and related risk factors for maternal mortality is crucial to identify relevant opportunities for improving care and training health care professionals.

Guidelines for the management of women with severe pre-eclampsia.

OBJECTIVE: To provide national guidelines for the management of women with severe pre-eclampsia. DESIGN: A consensus committee of 26 experts was formed. A formal conflict-of-interest (COI) policy was developed at the onset of the process and enforced throughout. The entire guidelines process was conducted independently of any industrial funding. The authors were advised to follow the principles of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE®) system to guide assessment of quality of evidence. The potential drawbacks of making strong recommendations in the presence of low-quality evidence were emphasised. METHODS: The last SFAR and CNGOF guidelines on the management of women with severe pre-eclampsia were published in 2009. The literature is now sufficient for an update. The aim of this expert panel guidelines is to evaluate the impact of different aspects of the management of women with severe preeclampsia on maternal and neonatal morbidities separately. The experts studied questions within 7 domains. Each question was formulated according to the PICO (Patients Intervention Comparison Outcome) model and the evidence profiles were produced. An extensive literature review and recommendations were carried out and analysed according to the GRADE® methodology. RESULTS: The SFAR/CNGOF experts panel provided 25 recommendations: 8 have a high level of evidence (GRADE 1+/-), 9 have a moderate level of evidence (GRADE 2+/-), and for 7 recommendations, the GRADE method could not be applied, resulting in expert opinions. No recommendation was provided for 3 questions. After one scoring round, strong agreement was reached between the experts for all the recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: There was strong agreement among experts who made 25 recommendations to improve practices for the management of women with severe pre-eclampsia.

Accidental injection of patent blue dye during gynaecological surgery: Lack of knowledge constitutes a system error.

The authors report a case in which an intravenous injection of Patent Blue V dye instead of Indigo Carmine was given during routine gynaecological surgery. The patient presented with temporary arterial (spurious) desaturation and skin discoloration over a 48-hour period. Pharmacological differences between these dyes are described. Root cause analysis based on the ALARM (Association of Litigation and Risk Management) model is presented. The authors emphasise that use of this model should not be limited solely to describing and correcting well known systems errors such as working conditions or teamwork and communication. Furthermore, they conclude that insufficient knowledge must also be recognised as a systems error and as such should be sought out and corrected using similar strategies to those used to discover other contributory factors, without allocation of blame to any individual.

Are standard intra-abdominal pressure values different during pregnancy?

BACKGROUND: Measurement of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) is an important parameter in the surveillance of intensive care unit patients. Standard values of IAP during pregnancy have not been well defined. The aim of this study was to assess IAP values in pregnant women before and after cesarean delivery. METHODS: This prospective study, carried out from January to December 2011 in a French tertiary care centre, included women with an uneventful pregnancy undergoing elective cesarean delivery at term. IAP was measured through a Foley catheter inserted in the bladder under spinal anaesthesia before cesarean delivery, and every 30 minutes during the first two hours in the immediate postoperative period. RESULTS: The study included 70 women. Mean IAP before cesarean delivery was 14.2 mmHg (95%CI: 6.3-23). This value was significantly higher than in the postoperative period: 11.5 mmHg (95%CI: 5-19.7) for the first measurement (p = 0.002). IAP did not significantly change during the following two postoperative hours (p = 0.2). Obese patients (n = 25) had a preoperative IAP value significantly higher than non-obese patients: 15.7 vs. 12.4; p = 0.02. CONCLUSION: In term pregnancies, IAP values are significantly higher before delivery than in the post-partum period, where IAP values remain elevated for at least two hours at the level of postoperative classical abdominal surgery. The knowledge of these physiological changes in IAP values may help prevent organ dysfunction/failure when abdominal compartment syndrome occurs after cesarean delivery.

Comparison of perioperative blood salvage and postoperative reinfusion of drained blood during surgical correction of craniosynostosis in infants.

BACKGROUND: The surgical correction of craniosynostosis may be associated with extensive blood loss and transfusion. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of the perioperative use of the continuous autotransfusion system (CATS group) and of the postoperative use of the CBCII ConstaVac(R) system (CV group) to reduce homologous transfusion in infants during repair of craniosynostosis. METHODS: Two groups of consecutive infants, weighing <10 kg, and scheduled for the surgical correction of craniosynostosis, were compared retrospectively according to the blood salvaging system used: CATS group and CV group. The primary endpoint was the comparison of the total volume of homologous blood transfused. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the CV (n = 69) and the CATS (n = 135) groups with regard to physical, preoperative and postoperative data, except for the type of craniosysnostosis with more scaphocephaly in the CV group (P = 0.03). No significant difference in blood loss and homologous transfusion was observed between the two groups during the perioperative period. Two subgroups of patients were also compared: a subgroup including patients operated on with a linear craniectomy for scaphocephaly, and a subgroup including all other patients. There was also no significant difference in blood loss and homologous transfusion between the CV and the CATS groups for these two subgroups of patients. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the postoperative use of the CBCII ConstaVac(R) system is as efficient as the perioperative use of the CATS(R) system for reducing homologous blood transfusion during repair of craniosynostosis in infants weighing <10 kg.