Volume 1

A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W. S. Playfair.

  • Playfair, W. S. (William Smoult), 1836-1903.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / by W. S. Playfair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    suspicion of danger having arisen. ]\Iore often the amount prolapsed is considerable; sometimes so as to lie in the vagina in a long loop, or even to protrude altogether beyond the vulva. In the treatment the great indication is to prevent the •cord from being unduly pressed on, and all our endeavours must have this object in view. If the presentation be de- tected before the full dilatation of the cervix, and when the membranes are unruptured, we must try to keep the cord out of the way; to preserve the membranes intact as long as possible, since the cord is tolerably protected as long as it is surrounded by the liquor amnii; and to secure the corn- rig. 12G. rOSTDIUO, THBATMENT OP PROLAPSE OP THE CORD. plete dilatation of the os, so that the presenting part may •engage rapidly and completely. Much may be done at this time by the postural ti’eat- ment, which we owe chiefly to the ingenuity of Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas, of New York, whose writings familiarised the profession with it, although it appears that a somewhat similar plan had been occasionally adopted previously. Dr. Thomas’s method is based on the principle of causing the •cord to slip back into the uterine cavity by its own weight. JYr this puiqoose the patient is placed on her hands and knees, with the hips elevated, and the shoulders resting on a lower level (fig. 12G). The cervix is then no longer the most dependent portion of the uterus, and the anterior wall of the uterus forms an inclined plane down which the cord Treat- ment. Postural treatment.