Use of balloon catheter tamponade for massive postpartum haemorrhage

Haemorrhage is one of the leading global causes of maternal mortality. The Rusch balloon has been used in the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) after failure of medical management. It is often effective in tamponading uterine bleeding, thus providing an alternative to hysterectomy. We describe a series of 22 cases in which we used the Rusch balloon to control massive obstetric haemorrhage after failure to control haemorrhage by medical means. In our study, 13 out of 22 patients (59.1%) required no further interventions after balloon tamponade. Seven patients (31.8%) required hysterectomy to control the bleeding. We include a review of the current literature on balloon tamponade for PPH, including analysis of six relevant case series. This demonstrates a variety of methods based on tamponade to terminate uterine haemorrhage. Our study highlights the benefit of balloon tamponade for massive PPH and the importance of its involvement in labour ward protocols.