ALiEM Cards: Maternal Cardiac Arrest
Maternal cardiac arrest is a low-frequency, high-risk pregnancy complication with 2 lives at stake. Incidence is approximately 1 in 12,000 to 50,000 pregnancies with a greater than 40% mortality rate. Understanding physiologic changes of pregnancy and how to perform a perimortem cesarean section (resuscitative hysterotomy) are critical aspects of caring for maternal cardiac arrest. ALiEM Cards: Maternal Cardiac Arrest, written by Drs. Jeffrey Sakamoto, Collin Michels, Nikita Joshi, and Rebecca Bavolek, reviews the causes, management pearls, and summarizes the perimortem cesarean delivery.