• M D Beye, E Diouf, O Kane, M D Ndoye, A Seydi, P I Ndiaye, and B K Sall.
• Service d'anesthésie et de réanimation, hôpital Aristide Le Dantec, BP 15708 Dakar Fann, Sénégal.
• Ann Fr Anesth Reanim. 2003 Jan 1; 22 (1): 25-9.

ObjectiveTo study the specific management problems of severe eclampsia under tropical latitudes.Study DesignA two years retrospective study in a University hospital in the tropics.Patients And MethodsIn all patients admitted for eclampsia between January 1997 et December 1999, the following parameters were studied: age, parity, interval between disease et admission, post-eclampsia Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), time of occurrence of eclampsia during pregnancy, delivery route, blood pressure data at admission, the occurrence of complications at admission or during hospital stay.ResultsTwenty-eight mainly primiparous patients (mean age: 26 +/- 6) were admitted with an average delay of 8.5 +/- 10.2 hours after the first symptoms. The time of occurrence was prepartum in 6, perpartum in 14 and postpartum in 8 cases. All patients were hypertensive and comatose with an average GCS of 8 +/- 2.2. Twenty patients had been previously intubated and ventilated. Delivery was natural in 22 and by caesarean section in 6 patients. The following complications were found: acute oliguric renal failure (9), HELLP-syndrome (4), cerebral haemorrhage (4), acute lung oedema (3) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (1). Maternal and child mortality were 35 and 42.8% respectively.ConclusionEclampsia is a major cause of both maternal and infantile mortality in developing countries. The authors insist that prevention and management require speedy transfers to adapted specialized obstetrical intensive care structures.

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