Cardiac arrest in a pregnant woman with pregnancy-induced hypertension: A case report

ABSTRACT

A 39-year-old woman with an intrauterine pregnancy and small-for-gestational-age fetus was admitted at 34 + 1 weeks for management of pregnancy-induced hypertension. On the 13th day of admission, the patient was found in the ward toilet with a cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was initiated immediately and cardiac monitoring revealed asystole. Manual uterine displacement was performed for CPR to be effective. A return of spontaneous circulation was observed, but repeated cardiac arrest occurred subsequently. Twenty-one minutes after starting CPR, a peri-mortem cesarean section was started, and delivery occurred 1 minute later. After delivery of the fetus, the patients' blood pressure stabilized, but there was no spontaneous respiration. Emergency brain CT revealed a large subarachnoid hemorrhage. Neonatal brain ultrasound showed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The patient was transferred to another hospital for neurosurgical intervention, where she expired on the third day after cardiac arrest.