Abruption
Abruption
Abruption
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Placental Abruption
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Placental Abruption
Yinka Oyelese, MD, and Cande V. Ananth, PhD, MPH
STUDY SELECTION
From the Divisions of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Epidemiology and Biosta-
We carried out a MEDLINE search using the key-
tistics, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences,
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey. words abruption, abruptio, and bleeding AND
Dr. Cande Ananth is partially supported through a grant (R01-HD038902) pregnancy, limiting our search to publications in
awarded to him from the National Institutes of Health. the English language between 1966 and 2006. Further
Corresponding author: Yinka Oyelese, MD, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medi- studies were identified through cross-referencing.
cine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, UMDNJ- There are no randomized controlled studies that have
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Clinical Academic Building, 125
Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; e-mail: YinkaMD@aol.com.
specifically examined abruption, and the overwhelm-
2006 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Published
ing majority of studies are observational (ie, cohort,
by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. case control, or case series). Most large studies deal-
ISSN: 0029-7844/06 ing with abruption have examined risk factors for the
Fig. 1. Types of abruption. A. Revealed abruption. Blood tracks between the membranes, and escapes through the vagina and
cervix. B. Concealed abruption. Blood collects behind the placenta, with no evidence of vaginal bleeding. Illustration: John
Yanson. Modified from University Health Care at the University of Utah. High-risk pregnancy: Bleeding in pregnancy/placenta
previa/placental abruption. Available at: http://uuhsc.utah.edu/healthinfo/pediatric/hrpregnant/bleed.htm.
Oyelese. Placental Abruption. Obstet Gynecol 2006.
Although preterm premature rupture of the abruption include, but are not limited to, dissemi-
membranes frequently precedes abruption, in some nated intravascular coagulopathy, renal failure, ob-
cases, placental abruption may cause weakening and stetric hemorrhage, need for blood transfusions, hys-
premature rupture of the membranes.4 Placental ab- terectomy, and less commonly, maternal death.
ruption is associated with intrauterine growth restric-
tion.5,6 It appears that, in the vast majority of cases, INCIDENCE OF PLACENTAL ABRUPTION
abruption is the end result of a chronic process and Several epidemiologic cohort studies have found that
that both fetal growth restriction and abruption share placental abruption complicates approximately 1% of
a common cause. Maternal risks associated with deliveries.2,5,79 However, when Bernsichke and
VOL. 108, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2006 Oyelese and Ananth Placental Abruption 1007
Gille10 performed pathologic examination of 7,038 Table 1. Evidence and Strength of Association
consecutive placentas, they found evidence of abrup- Linking Major Risk Factors with Placental
tion in 3.8%. Similarly, in the U.S. Collaborative Abruption Based on Published Studies
Perinatal Project, a prospective cohort study of 55,908 Evidence
pregnancies, Niswander and Gordon11 found evi-
dence of abruption in 2.12% of pregnancies. When RR or
Risk Factors Strength OR
the diagnosis of abruption is made by examination of
the placenta by the pathologist, the majority of cases Maternal age and parity 1.13.7
are noted to have had an unremarkable obstetric Cigarette smoking 1.42.5
Cocaine and drug use 5.010.0
history.12 Thus, there is significant discrepancy be- Multiple gestations 1.53.0
tween the rates of diagnosis of abruption between Chronic hypertension 1.85.1
clinicians and pathologists.12 Because cases of abrup- Mild and severe preeclampsia 0.44.5
tion diagnosed solely on the basis of pathology exam- Chronic hypertension with preeclampsia 7.8
ination typically have no obvious clinical conse- Premature rupture of membranes 1.85.1
Oligohydramnios 2.510.0
quences, we would recommend that obstetricians Chorioamnionitis 2.02.5
reserve the term abruption for those cases diag- Dietary or nutritional deficiency / 0.92.0
nosed on clinical grounds. An obvious exception to Male fetus / 0.91.3
this rule would be cases of pregnancies with an RR, relative risk; OR, odds ratio.
adverse outcome in which examination of the pla- These estimates are the ranges of RR or OR found in independent
studies.
centa by the pathologist reveals evidence of an oth- Reprinted from Yeo L, Ananth CV, Vintzileos AM. Placental
erwise unrecognized abruption. Interestingly, the in- abruption. In: Sciarra J, editor. Gynecology and obstetrics. Vol
cidence of abruption is highest at 24 26 weeks 2. Hagerstown (MD). Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; 2003.
2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
gestation, and drops precipitously with advancing
gestation (Fig. 2).
tive cohort studies have indicated that women who
TEMPORAL TRENDS IN PLACENTAL have a cesarean first birth have an increased risk of
ABRUPTION placental abruption in a second pregnancy when
Ananth and colleagues8 recently evaluated temporal compared with women who had a vaginal first
trends in the rate of placental abruption among birth.20,21
singleton births in the United Sates between 1979 and Numerous case control, cohort, and population-
2001. The overall rate of abruption in the United based studies have attempted to determine the asso-
Sates increased from 0.81% in 1979 1981 to 1.0% in ciation between abruption and thrombophilias.19,2224
1999 2001a relative increase of 23% (95% confi- Retrospective case control studies that have exam-
dence interval 2224%). There was a strong race ined the frequency of thrombophilias among women
disparity in the temporal trends in abruption risk in with abruption have mostly found increased rates of
that the rate of abruption increased among white thrombophilias.19,24 Conversely, those that have com-
women by 15% (from 0.82% to 0.94% between 1979 pared rates of abruption between thrombophilias and
1981 and 1999 2001), and increased by 92% among controls have generally found no significant differenc-
black women (from 0.76% to 1.43% between 1979 es.23 Prochaczka and colleagues,22 in a retrospective
1981 and 1999 2001).8 These overall trends in pla- case control study of 102 women with abruption,
cental abruption were similar in a Norwegian popu- failed to show any difference in incidence of factor V
lation, where Rasmussen et al9 noted the frequency of Leiden carriage status between the cases and controls.
placental abruption increased from 5.3 per 1,000 Secondary analysis of a large National Institutes of
births in 1971 to 9.1 per 1,000 births in 1990. Healthfunded prospective cohort study also failed to
find an association between maternal and fetal factor
RISK FACTORS FOR ABRUPTION V Leiden carrier status and placental abruption in
Risk factors for placental abruption are summarized women with no history of thromboembolism.23 Mean
in Table 1.5,7,1317 Other risk factors include trauma,18 levels of homocysteine are higher among patients
thrombophilias,19 dysfibrinogenemia, hydramnios, with abruptions that among controls.24
advanced maternal age, and intrauterine infections. Bleeding in early pregnancy carries an increased
There is a doseresponse relationship between the risk of abruption in later pregnancy.25,26 An elevated
number of cigarettes smoked and the risk of abrup- second-trimester maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein
tion.13,16 At least 2 recent population-based retrospec- may be associated with an up to 10-fold increased risk
VOL. 108, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2006 Oyelese and Ananth Placental Abruption 1009
ine hypertonus with associated high-frequency, low- These include placenta previa, appendicitis, urinary
amplitude uterine contractions. The uterus is fre- tract infections, preterm labor, fibroid degeneration,
quently tender and may feel hard on palpation. ovarian pathology, and muscular pain.
Backache may be the only symptom, especially when
the placental location is posterior. There may be acute Ultrasonography
fetal distress, and in cases where more than 50% of the The ultrasonographic appearance of abruption de-
placenta has separated, fetal demise. Rarely fetal pends to a large extent on the size and location of the
death due to abruption may occur with no other bleed (Fig. 4), as well as the duration between the
symptoms or signs. In some cases, evidence of abrup- abruption and the time the ultrasonographic exami-
tion may be found on ultrasonographic examination nation was performed.33 In cases of acute revealed
of asymptomatic patients. Finally, abruption may abruption, the examiner may detect no abnormal
present as idiopathic preterm labor. ultrasonographic findings. Nyberg and colleagues,33
A variety of fetal heart rate patterns have been in a retrospective cohort study of images in 57 cases of
described in association with abruption. There may abruption, found that the ultrasonographic appear-
be recurrent late or variable decelerations, reduced ance of abruption in the acute phase was hyperechoic
variability, bradycardia, or a sinusoidal fetal heart rate to isoechoic when compared with the placenta. Later
pattern. More infrequently, in cases of concealed on, as the hematomas resolved, they became hypo-
abruption associated with fetal death, the first clinical echoic within 1 week and sonolucent within 2 weeks.
sign may be of evidence of abnormal bleeding, the In some cases, only a thickened heterogenous pla-
result of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. In centa could be seen. Thus, it is important to realize
addition, there may be maternal hypovolemic shock. that abruption may have a variety of ultrasonographic
Labor typically proceeds fairly rapidly in cases of appearances (Fig. 4; Fig. 5, BD). The placenta may
abruption. Placental abruption may be associated jiggle when sudden pressure is applied with the
with acute tubular necrosis and acute cortical necro- transducer, the so-called jello sign. Glantz and
sis, leading to oliguria and renal failure. Although colleagues,34 in a retrospective cohort study, found
tubular necrosis may be due to acute hypovolemia, it that the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and neg-
seems that cortical necrosis is the result of damage to ative predictive values of ultrasonography for placen-
the kidney resulting from products of the coagulation tal abruption were 24%, 96%, 88%, and 53%, respec-
cascade. Renal cortical necrosis may result in chronic tively. Thus, ultrasonography will fail to detect at least
renal failure. one half of cases of abruption. However, when the
ultrasonogram seems to show an abruption, the like-
DIAGNOSIS lihood that there is indeed an abruption is extremely
Clinical high.34 Importantly, a negative ultrasonogram does
The diagnosis of abruption is a clinical one and the not rule out an abruption.34 Sholl35 identified ultra-
condition should be suspected in women who present sonographic evidence of a clot in only 25% of abrup-
with vaginal bleeding or abdominal pain or both, a tions, whereas Jaffe and colleagues36 found that ultra-
history of trauma, and those who present in otherwise sonography identified only 50% of abruptions
unexplained preterm labor. The differential diagnosis confirmed by pathology. Yeo and colleagues37 found,
includes all causes of abdominal pain and bleeding. in a prospective cohort study of 73 patients presenting
with vaginal bleeding in the second half of pregnancy, mistake a clot over the cervix for placenta previa. The
using 7 ultrasonographic parameters (see Box) that presence of a fundal placenta makes it unlikely that the
the sensitivity of ultrasound for placental abruption mass covering the cervix is placenta. A clot may jiggle
was 80%, whereas the specificity was 92%.37 Positive with movement of the fetus or ultrasound transducer.37
and negative predictive values were 95% and 69%,
respectively.37 However, no other studies have repli- Kleihauer-Betke Test
cated this accuracy for the ultrasonographic diagnosis The Kleihauer-Betke test is frequently performed in
of abruption. Ultrasonography may also predict prog- women in whom abruption is suspected. Emery and
nosis in abruption; Nyberg and colleagues,38 in a colleagues39 carried out a retrospective cohort study of
retrospective review of 69 cases of abruption, found that the use of the Kleihauer-Betke test at their institution.
fetal mortality correlated with the ultrasonographically There were no positive Kleihauer-Betke tests among the
estimated percentage of abruption and with the location, 27 placentas that showed evidence of abruption on
with the worst prognosis occurring in retroplacental pathologic examination. Nine percent of patients with
abruptions. An important role of ultrasonography in no evidence of abruption had positive Kleihauer-Betke
evaluation of bleeding in the second half of pregnancy is tests. A retrospective case control study comparing 100
placental location; if there is a placenta previa, it makes low-risk women in the third trimester with 151 women
it less likely that abruption is the cause of the bleeding. of similar gestational ages who had undergone evalua-
The ultrasonographer must be careful, though, not to tion for abdominal trauma found that the incidence of
VOL. 108, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2006 Oyelese and Ananth Placental Abruption 1011
Ultrasonographic Criteria for Diagnosis of Placental Abruption
1. Preplacental collection under the chorionic plate (between the placenta and amniotic fluid) (see Fig. 5C)
2. Jello-like movement of the chorionic plate with fetal activity.
3. Retroplacental collection. (See Fig. 5B)
4. Marginal hematoma
5. Subchorionic hematoma
6. Increased heterogenous placental thickness (more than 5 cm in a perpendicular plane) (Fig. 5D)
7. Intra-amniotic hematoma
Adapted from Yeo L, Ananth CV, Vintzileos AM. Placental abruption. In: Sciarra J, editor. Gynecology and obstetrics. Vol 2.
Hagerstown (MD): Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2003. 2003 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
positive Kleihauer-Betke tests were similar in the two a prior classical cesarean delivery, cesarean delivery
groups.40 There was no association between a positive may be necessary to avoid worsening of the coagu-
test and abruption. Thus, the Kleihauer-Betke test has lopathy. Bleeding from surgical incisions in the pres-
limited usefulness in the diagnosis of abruption. A ence of DIC may be difficult to control, and it is
negative test should not be used to rule out abruption, important to stabilize the patient and to correct any
nor does a positive test necessarily confirm abruption. coagulation derangement during surgery. After deliv-
However, a Kleihauer-Betke test allows quantification of ery, the patient should be monitored closely, with
fetomaternal transfusion to guide dosing of Rh-immune particular attention paid to vital signs, amount of
globulin in Rh-negative women. blood loss, and urine output. In addition, the uterus
should be observed closely to ensure that it remains
MANAGEMENT contracted and is not increasing in size, and blood loss
The management of placental abruption depends on should be monitored closely. The uterus may be
the presentation, the gestational age, and the degree hypotonic, and occasionally hysterectomy may be
of maternal and fetal compromise. (Fig. 6). Because necessary. Blood should be drawn for complete blood
the presentation is widely variable, it is important to count and coagulation studies at regular intervals until
individualize management on a case-by-case basis. the patient is stable. Finally, some cases of abruption
More aggressive management, desirable in cases of may be associated with severe preeclampsia, which
severe abruption, may not be appropriate in milder may be masked because the patient may be normo-
cases of abruption. tensive due to hypovolemia. Thus, there should be a
In cases of severe abruption with fetal death, high index of suspicion for severe preeclampsia in
regardless of gestational age, as long as the mother is patients with abruption not resulting from an obvious
stable, it is reasonable, in the absence of other con- cause such as trauma or cocaine use. In such cases, the
traindications, to allow the patient to have a vaginal patients may benefit from close volume status moni-
delivery. Typically, the uterus is contracting vigor- toring, early recognition of hypovolemia, and ade-
ously, and labor rapidly progresses. Amniotomy is quate blood replacement.
frequently sufficient to speed up delivery. There is a In cases of abruption at term or near term with a
significant risk of coagulopathy and hypovolemic live fetus, prompt delivery is indicated. The main
shock. Intravenous access should be established and question is whether vaginal delivery can be achieved
blood and coagulation factors should be replaced without fetal or maternal death or severe morbidity.
aggressively. Meticulous attention should be paid the In cases in which there is evidence of fetal compro-
amount of blood loss; clinicians frequently underesti- mise and delivery is not imminent, cesarean delivery
mate this. Blood should be taken for complete blood should be performed promptly, because total placen-
count, coagulation studies and type and crossmatch, tal detachment could occur without warning. When
and the blood bank should be informed of the both maternal and fetal status are reassuring, conser-
potential for coagulopathy. A Foley catheter should vative management, with the goal of vaginal delivery,
be placed and the hourly urine output should be is reasonable. Labor, if established, should be allowed
monitored closely. It is prudent to involve an anes- to progress, otherwise induction of labor should be
thesiologist in the patients care early. When labor considered. Both mother and fetus should be moni-
does not progress rapidly, and in cases in which there tored closely during labor. Should the fetal heart rate
is feto-pelvic disproportion, fetal malpresentation, or tracing become nonreassuring, with bradycardia, loss
of variability, or persistent late decelerations, prompt perinatal outcome in 33 patients with severe abrup-
cesarean delivery is indicated. Similarly, should ma- tion and fetal bradycardia, Kayani and colleagues41
ternal compromise occur, the fetus should be deliv- found that longer decision delivery intervals were
ered promptly. associated with poorer perinatal outcomes. It must be
A few older retrospective cohort studies sug- emphasized that in the setting of significant abruption
gested that outcomes in cases of abruption where the with fetal bradycardia, minutes may make a differ-
fetuses were alive were superior when there was a ence between death and survival.
cesarean delivery to when vaginal delivery oc- At more preterm gestational ages (between 20
curred.41 43 In a case control study examining the and 34 weeks of gestation), when there is partial
relationship between decision delivery interval and placental abruption and the maternal and fetal status
VOL. 108, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2006 Oyelese and Ananth Placental Abruption 1013
are reassuring, the patient may be managed conser- guidelines18 recommend that women involved in
vatively.44,45 Preterm birth is the leading cause of trauma should have a minimum of 4 hours of fetal
perinatal death in women with abruption, and to monitoring. This duration should be extended and
optimize perinatal outcomes, it is desirable, if possi- further evaluation carried out in the presence of
ble, to prolong gestation. However, it cannot be uterine contractions or irritability, nonreassuring fetal
overemphasized that these patients require extremely heart rate tracing, uterine tenderness, vaginal bleed-
close monitoring, because there is a significant risk of ing, severe maternal trauma, or rupture of the mem-
fetal death. In cases where the gestational age is branes. When the fetal heart rate tracing is nonreas-
between 24 and 34 weeks, steroids should be admin- suring, delivery is generally indicated, depending on
istered to promote fetal lung maturation. Patients gestational age and individual circumstances.
should be delivered in a center with adequate neona-
tal facilities and the parents should be counseled by a SCREENING FOR THROMBOPHILIAS
neonatologist regarding potential treatments and out- In women with abruption without a known cause,
comes for the neonate. Prolonged hospitalization and such as trauma or cocaine usage, screening for con-
monitoring may be necessary. It may be possible to genital or acquired thrombophilias should be consid-
discharge these patients to outpatient management if ered. Thrombophilias that may be associated with
the fetal status is reassuring once they have remained abruption include factor V Leiden, antithrombin III,
stable for several days. prothrombin gene mutation, protein S and protein C
Abruption suspected on the basis of an incidental deficiency, methyltetrahydrofolate reductase defi-
finding on ultrasound should be managed on a case- ciency, lupus anticoagulant, and anticardiolipin anti-
by-case basis. Thorough history and physical exami- bodies. Women who screen positive should be treated
nation should be conducted for evidence of trauma, with heparin and aspirin in subsequent pregnancies or
cocaine use, hypertension, preeclampsia, or any other with vitamin B6 and B12 in the case of methyltetra-
predisposing factors. Subsequent management may hydrofolate reductase deficiency.
follow the recommendations above, taking into con-
sideration the gestational age and the state of maternal
and fetal well-being. If ultrasonography suggests an TOCOLYSIS
abruption in a term fetus, delivery is reasonable. At It is generally taught that tocolytics, especially -sym-
preterm gestations, if fetal status is reassuring, conser- pathomimetics such as terbutaline, are contraindi-
vative management should be the goal.45 In a retro- cated in the presence of vaginal bleeding, because
spective cohort study of conservative management of side effects such as tachycardia could mask the clini-
40 cases of placental abruption in preterm gestations cal signs of blood loss. However, a few retrospective
after 20 weeks gestation, Combs and colleagues45 cohort and case control studies have evaluated the
were able to delay delivery until term in 33%. The use of tocolytics (including -sympathomimetics) in
perinatal mortality rate was 22%, and all cases of the presence of bleeding in the second half of preg-
perinatal death except one were attributable to ex- nancy, including patients with suspected stable pla-
treme prematurity. Of those who delivered before cental abruptions.35,45,46 Bond and colleagues44 expect-
term, 63% had at least one other risk factor (twins, antly managed 43 women with clinical evidence of
advanced cervical dilation, rupture of membranes) placental abruption before 35 weeks gestation, using
that predisposed to preterm delivery. tocolysis in cases where there were contractions.
In cases where conservative management is cho- There were no intrauterine deaths. They achieved a
sen, initial hospitalization for further evaluation and mean latency period to delivery of 12.4 days. Of
assessment of fetal well-being is reasonable. We rec- these, in 23 cases, delivery occurred within 1 week of
ommend serial ultrasonograms to evaluate progres- admission, while in the remaining 20 patients, the
sion or regression of the abruption. mean time to delivery was 26.8 days. However, there
was no comparison group. Towers and colleagues47
TRAUMA IN PREGNANCY reviewed 236 cases of third trimester bleeding, which
Women who sustain trauma in pregnancy, such as included 131 cases of placental abruption, with a
those in motor vehicle accidents, are at risk of abrup- mean gestational age of 28.9 weeks at the time of first
tion.18 This is usually the result of shearing forces, may bleeding. In 95 (73%) of these women, tocolysis had
occur even without direct abdominal trauma, and is been used. The mean time from bleeding until deliv-
independent of placental location.18 Current Ameri- ery was 18.9 days, the median time from bleeding
can College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists until delivery was 7 days, and the neonatal mortality
VOL. 108, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2006 Oyelese and Ananth Placental Abruption 1015
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