Managing situations of acute blood loss with limited resources

Abstract

Death from acute blood loss is a common event in many parts of the world. Most of the half-million-plus maternal deaths worldwide are due to postpartum hemorrhage. While a state of general nonreportage exists in under-resourced countries, it is clear that shortage of blood and trained clinical manpower are important causes of mortality, even for those lucky few who do make it to hospital. These factors and methods of resuscitation are considered in this review of the clinical scene and simple techniques available to treat hemorrhagic shock in under-resourced countries. © 2008 Network for Advancement of Transfusion Alternatives.