Patient Blood Management programs for post-partum hemorrhage

Abstract

Patient blood management (PBM) strategies aim to maintain hemoglobin concentration, optimize hemostasis, and minimize blood loss to improve patient outcomes. Because postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a leading cause of maternal mortality and blood product utilization, PBM principles can be applied in its therapeutic approach. First, pre-operative identification of risk factors for PPH and identification of peri-delivery anemia should be conducted. Iron supplementation should be used to optimize hemoglobin concentration before delivery; it can also be used to treat anemia in the postpartum period after severe PPH. Both acute normovolemic hemodilution and intraoperative cell salvage can be effective techniques to reduce allogeneic blood transfusion during or after surgical procedures. Furthermore, these strategies appear to be safe when used in the pregnant population.