– We press with a fist and a flat hand. Actually, we’re going all the way down until we feel the spine. Midwife Tone Henriksen at Østfold Hospital demonstrates the maneuver on a new mother. The procedure, called aortic compression, can be life-saving for women who have just given birth but are bleeding profusely. By pressing down on the main artery just above the navel, health personnel can temporarily stop bleeding. It gives time to find the cause of the bleeding and the right treatment. The maneuver has been known for several decades, but over time it has been forgotten by many due to new technology and development. Midwife Tone Henriksen knows the move that can save lives. Photo: Caroline Bergli Tolfsen/news – With these large bleedings, it spurts out well, then we can see that it stops completely, says Henriksen. – We save a lot of blood in a short time if we act quickly. Aortic compression has been an additional measure for us which has certainly helped to reduce the total amount of blood. Have fewer major bleeds In Norway, more than 40 out of 1,000 women bleed more than one and a half liters immediately after giving birth, according to figures from the Medical Birth Register. In the country as a whole, there is a steady increase in the number of women with heavy bleeding, but at Sykehuset Østfold the curve points downwards. Since they introduced the maneuver in 2018, the number of women with heavy bleeding has decreased. One of the most common causes of heavy bleeding is that the uterus does not contract as it should in the period after birth. – If we quickly start aortic compression when there is bleeding after a birth, we save time so that we can start taking the measures that actually treat the cause of the bleeding, says section chief Kathrine Sjøborg. Photo: Caroline Bergli Tolfsen/news For women who lose a lot of blood, the first period after giving birth can be challenging. – Then the mother becomes anemic and the quality of the maternity period may be reduced, says section chief Kathrine Sjøborg. Teaching the world over Sykehuset Østfold adopted the maneuver at the initiative of anesthesiologist Grethe Heitmann. – At a hospital in Malawi, we had a game-changing experience. There was a woman who was in a coma after bleeding. That’s when we just decided that we want to do something about this, says Heitmann. Every year around 70,000 women worldwide die from heavy bleeding. Through the company Exac, Grethe Heitmann has developed dolls that healthcare personnel can practice on. Here, students from Østfold University College get an introduction. Photo: Caroline Bergli Tolfsen/news Today, Heitmann travels around the world to inform and train healthcare personnel. On Women’s Day on 8 March, she was invited to Dubai by the World Health Organization to give a lecture on the life-saving procedure. – Reducing maternal mortality is very complex. I think that aortic compression is a small but important piece of the puzzle, she says. Hello! Hello! Thanks for reading all the way down here. Did you think of anything when you read the case? Or do you have tips for what my next article should be about? Feel free to send me an email!
ttn-69
Heavy bleeding after birth can be stopped by aortic compression – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio
