The seventh report of the confidential enquiry into maternal deaths in the United Kingdom39
has highlighted that 11 of 17 women who suffered AFE reported some or all of the
following symptoms: breathlessness, chest pain, feeling cold, lightheadedness, distress,
panic, a feeling of pins and needles in the fingers, nausea, and vomiting. The interval
between the onset of these symptoms and the collapse varied (from almost immediately to
over 4 hours later). These symptoms might indicate hypoxia and might give the first clue to
diagnosis of amniotic-fluid embolism in progress before collapse and hemorrhage occur.
Tuffnell35 suggested that monitoring maternal oxygenation by pulse oximetry in these
circumstances should be considered in the peripartum period to detect at an early stage
women who may develop AFE.