Table 3. Differential diagnoses by clinical symptoms.

Clinical manifestation/symptoms	Amniotic fluid embolism	Pulmonary embolism	Myocardial infarction	Peripartal cardiomyopathy
Manifestation	During labor/birth → hours postpartum	2 to 15 times more common during labor than pregnancy	21% peripartally 34% postpartally	Third trimester: approx. 9% to 80% up to 4 months postpartum
Risk factors	+/nonspecific	+++/specific	+++/specific	+/nonspecific
Cardiac arrest	++	+ → ++	+	+
Chest pain	–	++ → +++	+++	++
Cardiac arrhythmia	+ → ++	++ → +++	+++	++
Dyspnea	+++	+ → +++	+ → ++	++
Hypotension	+++	+ → ++	+ → ++	+/–
Neurological symptoms	++	+ secondary	(+) secondary	(+) secondary
Coagulopathy	++	–	–	–
Acute fetal distress	+ → ++	(+) secondary	(+) secondary	No data

–: None or rare; +: Occasional; ++: Common; +++: Very common; Table from Rath W.: Fruchtwasserembolie, Lungenembolie (Amniotic Fluid Embolism, Pulmonary Embolism). In: Feige A., Rath W., Schmidt S (eds.): Kreißsaal-Kompendium, Stuttgart, New York, Thieme 2013; 142–9 (e17). Reproduced with the kind permission of Thieme Publishers