Amniotic fluid embolism: a review of the literature with two case reports

Cryoprecipitate therapy in amniotic fluid embolization

Cryoprecipitate was administered to a patient with severe adult respiratory distress syndrome secondary to an amniotic fluid embolus, diagnosed cytologically. Following the administration of cryoprecipitate, cardiopulmonary and hematologic status markedly improved, and the patient recovered without apparent sequela. She is the sixth surviving patient reported to have an amniotic fluid embolus confirmed cytologically. On the basis of accumulating data on the relationship between fibronectin levels and the integrity of the reticuloendothelial system, it is quite possible that fibronectin (cold-insoluble globulin), and not fibrinogen, played the key role in her dramatic improvement and may well have been responsible for the clinical improvement in earlier patients treated with blood products containing fibronectin.

Cord entanglement causing premature placental separation and amniotic fluid embolism. Case report

A woman died undelivered of amniotic fluid embolism. Postmortem examination showed that cord entanglement had caused premature placental separation with a marginal tear of the membranes and so opened a route of entry for amniotic fluid into the subplacental maternal venous sinuses. It is suggested that premature separation of the normally implanted placenta, associated with macro- or microscopic tears of or damage to the fetal membranes, provides a route of entry for amniotic fluid through the placental site in approximately one half of the fatal cases of amniotic fluid embolism.