Avoid death of women with eclampsia

In the past five years, specialists of the Maternal Perinatal Hospital "Monica Saenz Pretelini" in Mexico City, prevented the deaths of 25 women with eclampsia in their last weeks of pregnancy, which is the aggravation of hypertension, causes the formation of clots in the brain risking the life of the patient and is a major cause of maternal death.

Dr. Sergio Garcia Barrios, neurosurgeon of this institution, explained that to avoid this problem that can occur in the fifth month of pregnancy, specialists from the Mexico State Health Institute (ISEM) performed a surgical procedure that helps relieve intracranial pressure of the brains of patients.

Explained that, during the surgical procedure, a multidisciplinary team remove very large fractions of bone to prevent the brain gets compressed and do not let the pressure go to the stem of life, which improves circulation and is achieved that the body can receive more blood.

"The eclampsia is a disease that can arrive to a woman after the fifth month of pregnancy. It has no specific cause, but it is known that at this stage, the blood pressure in the body, that promotes the formation of clots to the brain and can cause massive bleeding rises "said Garcia Barrios.

To detect this problem Dr. Garcia Barrios recommended that patients who are pregnant should have medical regular consultation, to keep control.

If the patient presents severe headache, vomiting, bleeding, decreased alertness and decreased strength in half the body, is probably that the blood pressure is high and need the intervention of a specialist.

Therefore, the specialist called the pregnant patients to visit their                                                      nearest health center at least once a month, and avoid this condition that occurs one in every 2000 pregnancies and reaches a death probability greater than 95 percent, if it´s not treated timely.

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