BACKGROUND: Placental abruption is an important cause of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and safety of any intervention for the care of women and/or their babies following a diagnosis of placental abruption. SEARCH STRATEGY: Comprehensive electronic search of the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth trials register. Date of last search: October 2002. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised and 'quasi-randomised' trials that report clinically meaningful outcomes and present results on an intention to treat basis. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: If eligible trials were to be identified, data will be extracted, unblinded, by the reviewer from all studies. MAIN RESULTS: No studies that met the inclusion criteria were identified. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The clinical management of placental abruption has to rely on knowledge other than that obtained through randomised clinical trials.