External Aortic Compression: Buying Time in Pelvic Hemorrhage

Internal manual aortic compression is a procedure that may be used intraoperatively in the management of massive pelvic bleeding. But what about EXTERNAL aortic compression? In February’s 2025 AJOG (Grey Journal), under their Surgeon’s Corner section, there will be a very nice video recap of an easy to adopt maneuver which may “buy time” in OB hemorrhage cases as surgical intervention is being planned. This is called the EAC maneuver. First described in 1994, this technique has regained the spotlight as rates of PPH have been on the rise. How is EAC done? Does it work? If so, why is this not part of the OB Hemorrhage bundle? Listen in for details.