Unrecognised Abruptio In A Rural Nigerian Woman:A Case For Early Referal And Intervention

Abstract

Placenta abruptio is one of the obstetrics emergencies with considerable morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby. We present the case of a 34 year old Nigerian Woman, gravida 4, Para 3+0, who had spontaneous vagina bleeding at term (39 week gestation) and was referred to our centre (Jos University Teaching Hospital-JUTH, Jos) from a rural health clinic. She had emergency lower segment caesarean section with delivery of a live male baby weighing 3.55Kg and a retro-placenta clot of about 250mls. Her postoperative recovery was uneventful and she was discharged home after one week of surgery. This was the preferred mode of delivery due to the previous uterine scar, absence of continuous electronic intrauterine fetal monitoring and normal hematological profile in the presence of a live fetus.