Retained placenta is a life threatening emergency and a major cause of
primary postpartum hae- morrhage and maternal morbidity in the developing
world. Objectives: To determine the socio- demographic characteristics and
complications in patients presenting with retained placenta in this centre. Materials
and Method: This was a retrospective study of all cases of retained placenta
managed at the UCTH from January 1st 2008 to December 31st 2012. The case
records of these patients were retrieved and analysed using Epi info 3.3.2.
Results: There were 138 patients with retained placenta during the period,
giving an incidence of 1.02%. The mean age was 27.7 ± 4.6 years with a range of
17 - 41 years. Majority of the cases of retained placenta occurred in the age
group of 26 - 30 years (37%); para 4 (36.1%); traders (48.7%) and unbooked (68.1%).
Most patients delivered outside the hospital by unskilled birth attendants at
churches, traditional birth attendants and patient’s home (69.0%). Eleven (9.2%)
patients had previous caesarean sections while 7 (5.9%) had placenta retention
in the past. The complications observed were mostly primary postpartum
haemorrhage 67 (56.3%) and anaemia 79 (66.4). Unbooked patients significantly
had more primary postpartum haemorrhage (P-value = 0.0325) and anaemia (P-value
= 0.0000) than the booked patients. Nineteen (16.0%) patients presented in
shock out of which 1 died due to severe haemorrhagic shock, giving a case
fatality rate of 0.8%. Conclusion: Poorly managed labour and delivery is the
major cause of retained placenta. Therefore, supervised hospital delivery is
paramount to reduce the observed complications.
Cite this paper
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