Internal migration of the ovum : with report of a case of repeated ectopic gestation possibly supporting the theory.

  • Coe, Henry C., 1856-1940.
Date:
[1893]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Internal migration of the ovum : with report of a case of repeated ectopic gestation possibly supporting the theory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    t / mmi ilGRAIIOI §F IHE WITH REPORT OF A CASE OF REPEATED ECTOPIC GESTATION POSSIBLY SUPPORTING THE THEORY.' “ Inneee Ueberwandening des Eies” is an expression wliicli it is difficult to render iDerfectly into English. It signifies, as you know, the supposed migration of the impregnated ovum from the tube in which impregnation occurred into the ute- rine cavity and thence into the opposite tube, in which it re- mains and develops, with the usual results of ectopic gestation. It may also be assumed that the ovum is impregnated in the uterus and then enters the opposite tube. This theory, which has been discussed jpro and co7i by Wyder, Schafier, and Pesta- lozza, has been recently considered at length by Yeit, who points out the various sources of error in former observations. It is clear that this phenomenon is not capable of being studied ex- perimentally or under physiological conditions, since it is essen- tially a pathological process, being considered as possible only when the distal end of the tube in which ectopic gestation occurs •is positively occluded before impregnation takes place. The original observations of Bischoft’ on rabbits are hardly in point, since they apj^ly to bicornate uteri, in which the conditions are essentially difierent from those in the human female. It is evi- dent that this fact is extremely difficult of demonstration and will only be admitted in the face of positive anatomical proof. It is much to be regretted that, with the large number of speci- mens of ectopic gestation that have been described, little or no attention has been paid to this interesting possibility, it being assumed that the occlusion of the fimbriated end of the tube, when present, always takes place after impregnation, as lucidly described by Bland Sutton. * Read at the annual meeting of the American Gynecological Society, May 17th, 1893.