Eligible studies recorded intra-uterine pregnancy in women who had been treated with pelvic artery embolisation and who did not respond to routine medical treatment for life-threatening post-partum haemorrhage. Studies where post-partum haemorrhage was managed by hysterectomy or artery ligation before embolisation or that included different treatments such as artery ligation or embolisation and that did not report outcomes separately were excluded. Procedural outcomes of interest were: haemorrhage classification; embolisation material; and clinical success (defined as disparition or persistent small bleeding with haemodynamic stabilisation after the embolisation procedure). Obstetric outcomes of interest were: duration of the attempt to conceive; number of related pregnancies; pregnancy follow-up; delivery; maternal death; and haemorrhage recurrence.
Included studies were retrospective studies or case reports conducted in USA, China or Europe in women aged between 18 and 43 years; in case reports ages ranged from 30 to 35 years. Women were followed up by direct contact, telephone interviews, questionnaires or letters. Fifty-one percent of women had an early haemorrhage, 4% a late one and the rest were unclear; most embolisation materials were gelatin with or without microparticles or coils.
The authors did not state how many reviewers performed study selection.