An intrauterine balloon may be placed to tamponade bleeding sites following postpartum hemorrhage. It may be effective in some but not all cases and may have complications.
Technique: Bakri balloon
Indication: postpartum hemorrhage unresponsive to initial drug therapy
Risk factors for failure and/or complications:
(1) inexperience on the part of the clinician
(2) placement for too long a period (usually > 12 hours)
(3) massive bleeding
(4) intrauterine structural factors that impairs inflation (adhesions, bicornuate, other)
(5) uterine perforation or rupture
If bleeding is not controlled adequately by the balloon tamponade then an alternative treatment strategy should be chosen:
(1) uterine artery embolization
(2) hysteroscopy
(3) hysterectomy
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