Abstract
Summary: Amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a dramatic, rare and frequently lethal complication of pregnancy. Perusal of the National Health and Medical Research Council reports on Maternal Deaths in the Commonwealth of Australia for the years 1964–1984 (1–7) shows that there have been 1,193 maternal deaths in this 21‐year period, of which 54 (4.5%) were due to AFE. This paper presents data regarding these deaths and also describes 2 cases of AFE which occurred at Caesarean section performed for placenta praevia, one of which was lethal.

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: