TRAUMA DURING THE LAST TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY

Although accidents during pregancy are fairly rare, besides endangerin g the mother, they nearly always mean a vital threat to the fetus: let hality rates are up to 8% for the mother and up to 34% for the fetus. Besides depression of the circulatory system in the mother, coupled wi th fetal hypoxy, injury to the placenta and uterus is also possible. M oreover, the unborn child may be injured by direct trauma. If the fetu s sustains a direct injury, the head of the child is affected in the m ajority of instances. In addition, the risk of an intrauterine death i s very high. If the injured baby survives after a section, permanent d amage must be taken into account. Pregnant women who are injured in an accident should quickly be checked by sonography and cardiotocography . If no danger is expected for the child, the usual therapeutic rules that apply for traumatology should be followed. If the mother and chil d are endangered, a cesarean section must be undertaken along with sim ultaneous accident-related surgery on the mother. Case reports are pre sented on three cases in our clinic last year, and the current literat ure is discussed. All three mothers and newborns survived because of t he cooperation between surgeons, gynecologists and pediatricians.