A Case of Chronic Placental Abruption-Oligohydramnios Sequence at 19 Weeks' Gestation.

Seo, Ki Yun; Park, Man Chul

Case Report

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006;49(4):906-909.
Published online April 1, 2006.

A Case of Chronic Placental Abruption-Oligohydramnios Sequence at 19 Weeks' Gestation.

Ki Yun Seo, Man Chul Park

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea. parkmanc@hanmail.net

Abstract

Placental abruption is defined as the early separation of a normal placenta from the wall of the uterus before delivery of the fetus. The incidence of it has been reported to be approximately 1% of all pregnancies and perinatal mortality rates from abruption ranged from 20% to 40% in recent studies. Catastrophic placental abruption occurs infrequently, and 20% of patients will deliver seven days later or longer after abruption. These patients have a diagnosis of chronic abruption. 60% of patients with chronic abruption develop oligohydramnios. Chronic abruption-oligohydramnios sequence (CAOS) is defined by the following criteria: (1) clinically significant vaginal bleeding in the absence of placenta previa or other identifiable source of bleeding, (2) amniotic fluid volume initially documented as normal, and (3) oligohydramnios (amniotic fluid index < or =5) eventually developing without concurrent evidence of ruptured membranes. Recently we have experienced a case of chronic abruption with newly developed oligohydramnios at 19 weeks' gestation and report our case with brief review of the literature.

Key Words: Chronic placental abruption-oligohydramnios sequence