Labisia pumila as a Culprit of Primary Uterine Rupture Alongside Abruptio Placentae: A Case Report

Abstract

Purpose

Uterine rupture is a rare obstetrical and surgical emergency but is often associated with a catastrophic obstetric complication. Traditionally, unscarred uteri without risk factors are considered immune to rupture and information about its risk factors is only few due to its rarity. Complementary and alternative medicine is commonly used in pregnant woman in southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, however information regarding its toxicity due to irrational use is few. This case report presents a G2P1A0 35-year-old woman with acute abdomen with spontaneous unscarred uterine rupture >15 cm after continuously consuming herbal water made of Kacip Fatimah leaves in boiling water.

Case Description

A 35-year-old pregnant woman was referred to hospital due to abdominal discomfort 3 hours before admission due to suspicion of intrauterine fetal death. She drank the extracted herbal water to help her when the labor comes, which was made from boiled water with rumput Fatimah from her neighbor's house. Then, she was diagnosed with G2P1A0 parturient aterm latent phase; acute abdomen due to suspicion of placentae abruption dd/ ruptur uteri; and Intrauterine Fetal Death. Exploratory laparotomy was decided due to acute abdominal pain, and during the procedure the operator decided to do subtotal hysterectomy on the patient. The operator found her uterine was already ruptured, approximately 15–18 cm and the placentae was located outside of the uterus.

Conclusion

This case suggest that rational usage of herbal medicine must be implemented to avoid unwanted complication.

Keywords:

• case report
• herbal medicine
• spontaneous uterine rupture
• abdominal pain
• unscarred uterus

Ethics

The patient and her family allowed her case to be presented and submitted, and written consent was obtained. Institutional Review Board was not required for the publication of this case report.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge our patient for consenting to the publication of this case report and express gratitude to our colleagues in Obstetric and Gynecology Department of Otto Iskandar Hospital for their help during the case treatment.

Disclosure

The authors declare there is no conflict of interest in this work.