Maternal death by amniotic fluid embolism: two cases

Abstract

Amniotic embolism is a sudden, unexpected and dramatic complication of pregnancy. The diagnosis is usually
clinical, after the exclusion of differential diagnoses or, in the case of death, based upon the autopsy. We report
two cases of women who were around thirty and at full-term. The first case manifested itself in a symtomatology
that was very evocative of AFE, with respiratory distress and a state of shock. In the second case, the patient
presented a state of shock and a dead embryo in the uterus. Despite the efforts made to resuscitate them, the patients
died. The diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism was established as a result of the search for amniotic cells on the
fragments of tissue samples taken during the autopsy.