• Antonios Koutras, Zacharias Fasoulakis, Athanasios Syllaios, Nikolaos Garmpis, Michail Diakosavvas, Athanasios Pagkalos, Thomas Ntounis, and Emmanuel N Kontomanolis.
• Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, General Hospital of Athens 'ALEXANDRA', Athens, Greece.
• In Vivo. 2021 May 1; 35 (3): 1401-1408.

AbstractUterine atony is a serious obstetrical complication since it is the leading cause of postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is one of the 5 major causes of postpartum mortality; therefore, it requires immediate medical intervention, independent of whether delivery occurs normally or with a cesarean section. While in the past years most cases of postpartum hemorrhage were caused due to uterine atony following vaginal delivery, in recent years most PPH cases indicate a significant association with cesarean delivery. There are several methods used in order to avoid such a life-threatening complication, ranging from risk assessment to prevention, and finally medical intervention and management, if such an event occurs. In this scientific paper emphasis is given on the so-called "uterotonic" agents that are currently used, including oxytocin among others. It is, therefore, important to be familiar with these agents as well as understand the physiological mechanism by which they work, since they are used in everyday practice, not only for managing but also for preventing PPH. There are several potential questions that arise from the use of such "uterotonic" agents, and most specifically of oxytocin. Maybe one of the most important issues is the determination of optimal dosing of oxytocin in order to avoid PPH after a cesarean section.Copyright© 2021, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

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