• K Papathanasiou, A Tolikas, D Dovas, N Fragkedakis, J Koutsos, C Giannoylis, and J Tzafettas.
• 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aristotles University of Thessaloniki, Hippokrateion Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• J Obstet Gynaecol. 2008 Feb 1; 28 (2): 183-4.

AbstractBilateral iliac artery ligation is an effective second-line procedure to control massive obstetric and gynaecological haemorrhage, it is life-saving in certain cases and has the advantage that it preserves fertility, which is particularly important in young women of low parity. Bilateral ligation of internal iliac arteries is a life-saving procedure in cases of massive obstetric haemorrhage. It has the advantage of preserving fertility compared with the commonly performed emergency obstetric hysterectomy. It has also proved effective in cases of secondary pelvic haemorrhage in gynaecological operations. We report here a case series of 11 women who had bilateral internal iliac artery ligation for severe pelvic haemorrhage in a period of 10 years in our department. Ten of them were obstetric cases and one was a case of haemorrhage following vaginal hysterectomy. The outcome was favourable in 10 out of the 11 cases and there was only one case of massive postpartum haemorrhage where the procedure failed and required an emergency hysterectomy.

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