Clinical features and etiology of postpartum endometritis in women with a high risk of purulent-septic complications

Hypothesis/Aims of study. Postpartum purulent-septic complications continue to rank third in the structure of maternal mortality. In the etiology of postpartum endometritis, the key role is played by opportunistic microflora, including associations of microorganisms, as well as a history of chronic urogenital infection, bacterial vaginosis, and sexually transmitted infections. Despite numerous studies, the question of which microorganisms colonizing the birth canal are potentially dangerous in relation to the development of infectious and inflammatory pathology of the postpartum period is still a subject of discussion. The aim of this research was to study the etiology and identify the clinical features of postpartum endometritis in puerperas with risk factors for the development of purulent-septic complications.

Study design, materials and methods. This retrospective comparative study included 199 puerperas, who were divided into two groups: the main group consisted of women who developed postpartum endometritis (n = 72), and the comparison group comprised women with the physiological course of the postpartum period (n = 127). Bacteriological examination of lochia was performed on the third day of the postpartum period, as well as with the development of postpartum endometritis before empirical antibiotic therapy was started.

Results. During the bacteriological study of lochia in the main group of patients, potentially pathogenic microorganisms were observed in 68 % of puerperas, with the pathogen of endometritis not detected with repeated crops of lochia in 32 % of postpartum women. In the comparison group, this proportion was only 15 % (p < 0.005). During pregnancy, the release of microorganisms from the cervical canal was observed in 26.4 % of cases in the main group and in 7 % of cases in the comparison group of puerperas (p < 0.005). Despite the absence of clinical symptoms, all patients received systemic antibacterial therapy. Subsequently, 90 % of maternity patients in the main group revealed the ineffectiveness of empirical therapy due to antibiotic resistance of the identified microflora. When analyzing the species composition of microorganisms, intestinal microflora in monoculture was more often isolated in the patients of the main group: Escherichia coli (40 % vs. 2.4 % in the comparison group) and Enterococcus faecalis (25 % vs. 4.7 % in the comparison group). In 10 % of postpartum women with severe purulent-septic complications (sepsis, parametritis, pelvioperitonitis), the composition of the released microflora in lochiae did not differ from that of maternity women with endometritis without severe purulent-septic complications, and microbial associations were only detected in two cases.

Conclusion. The etiological cause of postpartum endometritis in puerperas with risk factors for the development of purulent-septic complications is intestinal bacteria (Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis) more often detected as a monoculture. The species composition of microorganisms that cause severe forms of postpartum purulent-septic complications does not differ in principle from the pathogens of uncomplicated forms of postpartum infection. Unreasonable antibacterial therapy during pregnancy is associated with antibiotic resistance of microorganisms that cause postpartum endometritis, which poses significant difficulties in the selection of antibacterial drugs for its treatment.