This is the fifth of a special podcast series on obstetric critical care.  I am joined on this series by Dr. Elizabeth Garchar, MD, FACOG.  She is an OB/GYN and Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist who has a particular interest in obstetric critical care.  She is also unique in that she flies regularly with our critical care transport teams as a retrieval OBGYN/MFM and acts as one of our Assistant Medical Directors for the flight program. The topic of this podcast is Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE).  Another rare, but devastating disease that can often progress rapidly to cardiac arrest.  In this podcast, we go through the epidemiology and definition/diagnosis of the disease.  We also go into depth on underlying pathophysiology and the current hypotheses on what causes AFE.  Spoiler alert: it’s not as simple as an embolism of amniotic fluid.   Then we review the management, specifically focusing on the management of acute right heart failure in the setting of abrupt and pronounced pulmonary hypertension. Finally, Dr. Garchar and I deliver some spaced repetition and go over the management of maternal cardiac arrest, in the likely event that AFE progresses to that point. References 1. Abenhaim HA, Azoulay L, Kramer MS, Leduc L. Incidence and risk factors of amniotic fluid embolisms: a population-based study on 3 million births in the United States. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Jul 2008;199(1):49 e1-8. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2007.11.061 2. Aissi James S, Klein T, Lebreton G, et al. Amniotic fluid embolism rescued by venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Crit Care. Apr 7 2022;26(1):96. doi:10.1186/s13054-022-03969-3 3. Clark SL, Montz FJ, Phelan JP. Hemodynamic alterations associated with amniotic fluid embolism: a reappraisal. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Mar 1 1985;151(5):617-21. doi:10.1016/0002-9378(85)90150-4 4. Clark SL, Romero R, Dildy GA, et al. Proposed diagnostic criteria for the case definition of amniotic fluid embolism in research studies. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Oct 2016;215(4):408-12. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2016.06.037 5. Conde-Agudelo A, Romero R. Amniotic fluid embolism: an evidence-based review. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Nov 2009;201(5):445 e1-13. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2009.04.052 6. Creel-Bulos C, Hassani B, Stentz MJ, et al. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Amniotic Fluid Embolism-Induced Cardiac Arrest in the First Trimester of Pregnancy: A Case Report. Crit Care Explor. Jul 2020;2(7):e0162. doi:10.1097/CCE.0000000000000162 7. Crissman HP, Loder C, Pancaro C, Bell J. Case report of amniotic fluid embolism coagulopathy following abortion; use of viscoelastic point-of-care analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. Jan 3 2020;20(1):9. doi:10.1186/s12884-019-2680-1 8. Durgam S, Sharma M, Dadhwal R, Vakil A, Surani S. The Role of Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Amniotic Fluid Embolism: A Case Report and Literature Review. Cureus. Feb 26 2021;13(2):e13566. doi:10.7759/cureus.13566 9. Foley MR ST, Garite TJ. Obstetric Intensive Care Manual. 5th ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2014. 10. Huybrechts W, Jorens PG, Jacquemyn Y, Colpaert C, Vrints C, Conraads V. Amniotic fluid embolism: a rare cause of acute left-sided heart failure. Acta Cardiol. Dec 2006;61(6):643-9. doi:10.2143/AC.61.6.2017964 11. James CF, Feinglass NG, Menke DM, Grinton SF, Papadimos TJ. Massive amniotic fluid embolism: diagnosis aided by emergency transesophageal echocardiography. Int J Obstet Anesth. Oct 2004;13(4):279-83. doi:10.1016/j.ijoa.2004.03.008 12. Lao TT. Acute respiratory distress and amniotic fluid embolism in pregnancy. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. Dec 2022;85(Pt A):83-95. doi:10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2022.06.004 13. Lockwood CJ, Bach R, Guha A, Zhou XD, Miller WA, Nemerson Y. Amniotic fluid contains tissue factor, a potent initiator of coagulation. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Nov 1991;165(5 Pt 1):1335-41. doi:10.1016/0002-9378(91)90363-v 14. McDonnell NJ, Chan BO, Frengley RW. Rapid reversal of critical haemodynamic compromise with nitric oxid