Diagnosis and treatment of bbstetrics disseminated intravascular coagulation in resource limited settings.

BACKGROUND

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is one of the commonest causes of abnormal bleeding during pregnancy and puerperium. Its successful management is a challenging feat in resource limited settings (RLS).

AIM: To determine Obstetricians' approach in diagnosing and treating obstetrics DIC in a RLS.

METHOD: A semi-structured pre-tested 4-sectioned questionnaire was used to collect demographic data of Nigerian obstetricians and data on their practice in the diagnosis and treatment of obstetrics DIC.

RESULTS

A total of 171 obstetricians responded. Preeclampsia was the most frequent cause identified (70.2%) followed by postpartum haemorrahge (58.3%). Platelet count determination was the test mostly used (95.9%) to make a diagnosis of DIC whereas, antithrombin assay was the least (20.6%) requested investigation. While about two-third would monitor the evolution of DIC, a little less than half of the obstetricians would not repeat laboratory testing more than every 2 days, reason mainly (61.8%) due to patient's financial constraint. Almost three-quarter of them preferred fresh whole blood as the first line of treatment of DIC.

CONCLUSION

DIC remains a challenge in the obstetrics practice in RLS especially in investigations, monitoring and index of suspicion for non-overt DIC.