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What Causes Placental Abruption?
Hello, My sister is a 45 y.o. African American. She had a ruptured placenta while she was 7 months pregnant, on or around the 28th of October. She was in MICU for about two-weeks and could not eat, teeth became severely sensitive, she had a mild heart attack, she developed sepsis, had dialysis, and came out taking cholesterol meds, and can barely move, since her c-section wound is still open and needs daily wet to dry dressing changes. My question is can an incident as such be caused from the sepsis or the ruptured placenta? It is near a month, and she can hardly walk, has tons of meds, lost tons of weight, as she was intubated and now has high blood pressure. It almost made her as Snf patient. She was never diagnosed with any of these types of life-threatening diseases before. The baby is in ICU as he was premature and breathing rapidly; However, he is progressing along, and has not had any codes, or other types of life-threatening issues. Please help. I really need answers.
posted on
Wed, 28 Oct 2015
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Wed, 16 Dec 2015
Answered on
Wed, 16 Dec 2015
Last reviewed on
Hello and welcome to HCM,
Ruptured placenta or abruptio placenta is a condition where the placenta detaches itself from the uterine wall before actual time of labor and delivery.
High blood pressure is one of the common causes for abruptio placenta.
Thus, it is quite possible that your sister could have been suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension during pregnancy or even before pregnancy.
Heart related issues could also be present since hypertension is a risk factor for developing heart related diseases.
The heart related disorders can aggravate during pregnancy because pregnancy is a state of hyper-dynamic circulation.
Another cause of abruptio placenta is rupture of membranes and ascending of infection from the external genitalia to the gestational sac.
Infection can lead to sepsis in mother.
Prescription of cholesterol medication suggest that your sister is having high cholesterol.
All the ailments - high cholesterol, sepsis, heart ailment need to be managed with appropriate medication.
High cholesterol and heart ailment needs to managed with regular medication in future also.
Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja Puri
Ruptured placenta or abruptio placenta is a condition where the placenta detaches itself from the uterine wall before actual time of labor and delivery.
High blood pressure is one of the common causes for abruptio placenta.
Thus, it is quite possible that your sister could have been suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension during pregnancy or even before pregnancy.
Heart related issues could also be present since hypertension is a risk factor for developing heart related diseases.
The heart related disorders can aggravate during pregnancy because pregnancy is a state of hyper-dynamic circulation.
Another cause of abruptio placenta is rupture of membranes and ascending of infection from the external genitalia to the gestational sac.
Infection can lead to sepsis in mother.
Prescription of cholesterol medication suggest that your sister is having high cholesterol.
All the ailments - high cholesterol, sepsis, heart ailment need to be managed with appropriate medication.
High cholesterol and heart ailment needs to managed with regular medication in future also.
Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja Puri
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