Memphis Medical Monthly Volume 31, No. 10 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...Hospital. E. B. Young and John T. Williams, Boston (Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, June 22, 1911). (1) Spontaneous emptying of the uterus takes place in but about 13.2 per cent of all miscarriages. (2) The likelihood of a miscarriage to complete itself increases with the duration of pregnancy. (3) When it becomes necessary to use artificial means to complete the miscarriage, the finger followed by the curette in later miscarriages, and of the curette alone in earlier months of pregnancy, has given uniformly satisfactory results at the Boston City Hospital. (4) Experience has shown that where the cervix is extremelyrigid it is better to introduce the curette and break up the fetus, and placenta and remove them piecemeal than to attempt to dilate the cervix sufficiently to introduce the finger. (5) Packing the vagina and lower segment of the uterus is an unsatisf actory and often unsuccessful method of emptying the uterus. No success whatever was obtained in treating incomplete miscarriages in this way. (6) Packing is, however, of great value in two classes of cases. First, in exsanguinated patients, to stop the hemorrhage and give the woman a chance to recover somewhat from the loss of blood before emptying the uterus; second, when the cervix is very rigid, a tight cervical pack for 24 hours will soften it so that dilatation may be attempted with safety. (7) The results of artificial methods are as good as but not better than where nature has succeeded in emptying the uterus. (8) Artificial methods are necessary in a majority of cases, however, simply because nature has failed. (9) In infected cases the essential thing is to get rid of the infectious material by emptying the uterus; the particular method employed making little difference. (10) The late...