Amniotic fluid embolism: Then and now.

BACKGROUND

The first case report to describe amniotic fluid embolism that appeared in 1926 in Basil-Medico is translated from Portuguese to English.

CASE: A patient with a dead fetus for several weeks, presented in labor and died suddenly with fetal squames evident in the maternal pulmonary vasculature at autopsy.

CONCLUSION

As can be seen from the translation, this case report is remarkably similar in many of its features to some of the eight patients described 15 years later in the first English language discussion of the disease by Steiner and Luschbaugh in JAMA. An enigma presented by this first case remains today: fetal material in the maternal pulmonary vasculature appears specific for amniotic fluid embolism at autopsy but not in living patients.