respiratory health

Pulmonary embolism from amniotic fluid

A very rare complication of pregnancy is the so-called amniotic fluid pulmonary embolism .

Pulmonary embolism is a serious pathological condition, due to the presence of an obstructive mobile body (embolus) in one of the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs.

As you can easily guess, in pulmonary embolism due to amniotic fluid, the vasal obstruction is caused by a lump of amniotic fluid, which first infiltrated the circulatory part and then reached the heart and the pulmonary vessels.

But what is the time of pregnancy when an infiltration of amniotic fluid into the venous blood vessels could occur?

Experts have noted that the phases most at risk are: during labor, immediately after birth, following an abortion or after an amniocentesis.

However, the pathological mechanism established during these situations and leading to the entry of amniotic fluid into the blood vessels remains unknown.

Pulmonary embolism due to amniotic fluid is particularly dangerous, because it can easily lead to death from heart failure . Fortunately - according to some estimates referring to North America - it occurs once every 15, 000 pregnancies.