Retained placenta is a potentially life-threatening condition for the patient, because the delay of parts of the placenta prevents adequate contraction of the uterus, which can cause massive obstetric bleeding in the postpartum period. The standard treatment for retained placenta is manual extraction. This procedure is invasive and has its complications in the short and long term. Therefore, the aim of our literature review was to investigate the prevalence, risk factors, pathogenesis of placental abruption and intraumbilical administration of uterotonics as an alternative method of management of this condition. The main conclusions of the conducted examination – the retained placenta - is the absence of expulsion of the placenta within 30 minutes after the birth of the child during active management of the third period of labor and within 60 minutes during physiological management; the time frames presented above cannot be applied to premature labour; the most significant risk factor for retained placenta is premature labour; intraumbilical administration of uterotonic drugs can be a safe, effective, non-invasive alternative to manual extraction in the case of placental retention in the third period of labor.