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Background: One result of the advancement in prenatal diagnosis is an increase in the need for second trimester pregnancy terminations. Extra-amniotic infusion of prostaglandins is a common technique used for such pregnancy termination. Since prostaglandins cause strong uterine contractions, many practitioners are hesitant to use this technique on women with a uterine scar. In this study we tried to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the technique for women with a previous uterine scar., Methods: This retrospective study included all women with a complete medical record who underwent a second trimester pregnancy termination at our institution by extra amniotic prostaglandin E2, during a 6 year period. The study group included all women with a previous uterine scar. The group of women without such a scar served as the control group., Results: Three hundred and forty women had their pregnancy terminated, but only in 282 cases was the medical information complete (research population). The study group (35 women) characteristics were similar to those of the control group (247 women). We found no difference in the abortion interval, the need to use an additional method, the need for curettage and in bleeding complication between the two groups. There was no case of uterine rupture. The group of women with multiple uterine scars was too small for analysis., Conclusions: Our results suggest that extra amniotic prostaglandin infusion is an effective and safe technique in women with a uterine scar.

Background: To compare a 48 hour non surgical policy in the management of spontaneous abortion with a policy of routine, universal uterine curettage., Methods: A prospective, observational study on 354 women admitted to hospital with spontaneous abortion. Of these, 225 who had retained products of conception were treated with misoprostol for up to 48 hours after 101 were excluded because they had an empty uterus on transvaginal scan (TVS) and another 28 women because they were unsuitable for conservative management. Follow-up was conducted over a 3 week period to assess morbidity. A reference group of 137 women, all of whom had an evacuation of retained products of conception (ERPC) as a routine after they had a TVS documenting retained products of conception (POCs), was used for comparison., Results: Evacuation of the uterus occurred within 24 hours in 107 women and in 148 at 48 hours after misoprostol treatment was started. There were three uterine curettages up to 14 days after discharge from hospital for persistent bleeding and two cases of pelvic infection. An ectopic pregnancy was diagnosed at follow-up in one woman. In the reference group, there were nine women who had complications, four requiring another ERPC and five had infection, an overall complication rate of 6.6% in the reference group and 1.7% in the protocol treatment group., Conclusion: A 48 hour regimen using transvaginal ultrasound and misoprostol for the management of spontaneous abortion was successful in avoiding surgery in 249 out of a possible 354 (70.6%) women with spontaneous abortion, with a low rate of subsequent morbidity.

This case report presents a patient with a psoas abscess related to a dilatation and (aspiration) curettage for an incomplete abortion with an IUD. Psoas abscess is extremely rare in obstetrics and gynecology and a life threatening condition. It is important to recognize the clinical presentation. Psoas abscess should be suspected in patients presenting with fever, pain in the leg, thigh, or low back region. Whether antibiotic prophylaxis in abortion curettage may prevent this and other complications is discussed.

Ultrasound and short-wave diathermy are widely used in physiotherapy to induce heating of deep tissues, since this causes a concomitant increase in local blood flow. A metallic implant in the treated field is generally regarded as a contra-indication to diathermy because of the risk of thermodamage to surrounding tissues. It is not certain, however, if copperbearing IUDs contain sufficient metal as to constitute a risk. In order to exclude the possibility that diathermy might lead to intra-uterine burns in women using copperbearing IUDs a technique was devised of measuring temperatures in the copper wire of an IUD in situ during short-wave an ultrasonic therapy. The results indicate diathermy to be perfectly safe in women whit copper-bearing IUDs.

Traditional Obstetric care among women of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria is described. The role of traditional birth attendants, antenatal care, management of delivery complications, postnatal care and traditional community practices surrounding birth are discussed.

Among 201 primigravidae, pelvic assessment was analyzed prospectively during the third trimester to detect patients likely to suffer from cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD). If the sacral promontory (SP) was reached by the index finger (9.0-9.5 cm true conjugate) the pelvis was regarded as "suspect". All patients who later developed CPD were in this group. Of the screened primigravidas, 22% were advised to deliver in the hospital. Pelvic assessment is an important screening tool during antenatal care to detect high-risk primigravidas.

In a prospective interview study, two groups each consisting of 28 sectio caesarea patients were compared concerning the course of breastfeeding. The women in the two groups were delivered under either epidural analgesia or general anesthesia. The two groups were identical with respect to age, parity, participation in antenatal preparatory courses and former breastfeeding. A significantly higher breastfeeding frequency and longer breastfeeding periods were were found after epidural analgesia than after general anesthesia.

Out of 332 patients in whom endometrial biopsy was considered to be indicated, vacuum curettage by th VabraR method could be performed on 296 (89%)-age range 23 to 71 years, mean 45.7-in all cases as an outpatient procedure without anesthesia. Material sufficient for histological diagnosis was obtained in 276 (93.3%), 7 (2.4%) of whom had endometrial cancer, 14 (4.7%) adenomatous hyperplasia, and 29 (9.8%) cystic hyperplasia. Of the 20 patients in which the curettings could not be assessed, subsequent conventional curettage showed postmenopausal mucosa in 12 cases, endometrial polyps in 4 and atrophic mucosa due to contraceptive pill in 4. Moderate and severe pain was experienced by 47 (15.8%) and 7 (2.3%) patients respectively, and 2 (0.6%) had a vasovagal reaction. There was one case (0.3%) of endometritis and 6 (2%) of postoperative bleeding. During a follow-up period of 1-5.5 (mean 2.4) years, 16 patients have developed bleeding again, but repeated vacuum curettage disclosed benign conditions in all, with no endometrial cancer apart from the cases diagnosed primarily. Vacuum curettage is a quick, simple, and cheap method for histological diagnosis of endometrial tissue. It does not require anesthesia, patient acceptability is high, and reliability satisfactory.

In 136 patients, who underwent induced abortion by the vacuum curettage method under local anaesthesia (paracervical block), the effect of 10 mg diazepam intravenously as preoperative sedative was investigated for its ability to abolish the subjective experience of pain. The trial was carried out as a paired sample, random, allocation, double-blind, fixed dose trial, and the statistical method was sequential analysis. Thirty-six pairs showed no difference and were excluded. After 32 pairs (24 A preferences and 8 O preferences), diazepam showed a significant superiority to placebo (p less than 0.05) (Fig. 1.) Amnesia for the procedure was reported by about one-quarter of the diazepam-treated patients, and in practically all cases the sedative effect had subsided 1-3 hours after the operation.

An 8-year study of urinary fistulae from 1974 to 1981 was done in the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. The analysis revealed no significant decrease in the number of urinary fistulae referred to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University during the period. Of 61 cases reviewed, 54 were consequent to obstetrical trauma of prolonged labor and superimposed operation or instrumentation. Four fistulae occurred as a complication of gynecologic surgery, while three originated from advanced malignancy of the cervix. Operative management of fistulae is discussed. Further reorganization of rural maternity services in Zambia is suggested as a preventive measure.

Ruptured uterus continues to be a common obstetric hazard in under developed countries. The commonest cause is spontaneous rupture from obstructed labor in the multipara. There was not a single rupture in the primipara. Rupture following previous cesarean section scar is also common. The most effective way of management is to correct fluid and blood loss followed by laparotomy and subtotal hysterectomy. This method gave a lower mortality than either repair and sterilization or total hysterectomy. Adequate pre-operative resuscitation and time interval between rupture and operation also influences mortality rate. The experience of the surgeon is another vital factor in determining mortality rate.

Obstetric hysterectomies were performed on 163 patients over a period of 13 years out of 56,823 deliveries. Seventy-one percent of the patients received no antenatal care in the index pregnancies. The majority were of high parity. Ruptured uterus was the commonest indication. Inadequate transfusion and late presentation affected the prognosis adversely. Ignorance, availability of suitable maternity care units and uncontrolled reproductive patterns were the main predisposing factors.

The results of a retrospective study involving 622 twin-pairs born over an 18-month period among 17,726 births at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, are presented with particular reference to four variables: birthweight, presentation, parity, and intertwin delivery time interval. The twinning incidence was 35.1 per 1000. Monozygous and dizygous rates are 7 and 28 per 1000, respectively. Overall perinatal mortality (PNM) was 15.5%. Mortality was higher in second than in first twin (19.5% vs. 11.6%), and consistently higher when divided into birthweight groups. Corrected PNM increased with breech presentations: 16.3% in breech:breech compared with 3.9% in vertex:vertex presentations. The twinning rate increased with parity; PNM is low in parity 1, of little variation in birth-ranks 2-5, and high in para 6 and above. Delivery of the second twin within 15 min seems optimal, giving a corrected PNM 3.6% in contrast to rates of 10.1%, 14.0% and 19.1%, respectively when delivery occurred between 16 and 30, 31 and 60 and greater than 60 min, respectively. Prevention of preterm delivery, increased use of cesarean section delivery for malpresentation, active management of delivery of second twin within an optimal time of 15 min, and family planning are suggested in order to decrease twin PNM.

Cesarean section rates in a rural area in Eastern Zaire are described. Indications are stringent and section is essentially performed on maternal indications. In the urban area cesarean section was performed for 1.1% of the expected births over a 9-year period, but only for 0.3% of expected births in the rural area, indicating a major problem in access to the district hospital. Section rates are compared with those reported for other settings.

We studied 3002 antenatal patients to assess the relationship between maternal weight at booking in the first trimester and the total weight gain during the pregnancy and the birth weight of infants, pregnancy complications and mode of delivery. We found if the weight of the mother in the first trimester was lower or higher by 20% as compared with the standard weight, and the weight gain was more than 16 kg and less than 2.5 kg, there was higher incidences of maternal and fetal morbidity (P less than 0.01).

Two previous studies of interval insertion of intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCD) in women with previous cesarean delivery produced conflicting results. We studied the first and subsequent segment IUCD performance in 215 women with one or more cesarean deliveries. All the insertions were performed by doctors in the outpatient department of the hospital. The follow-up rate at 6 months was over 80%. There was a higher than expected expulsion rate of 19 per 100 insertions in the first 12 months, in both the first and subsequent segments. Other IUCD related problems were in keeping with expectations. The IUCD nonetheless remains a useful contraceptive option for these women.

A retrospective analysis was made of 27 maternal deaths after cesarean section occurring over a 5-year period. Sepsis was the single most important cause of maternal death (81.5%). The commonest indications for the cesarean sections were obstructed labor (59.3%) and cord prolapse (18.5%). The causes of maternal deaths were classified as avoidable and recommendations were made for their prevention.

Diurnal birth patterns in the City of Guangzhou, China and the City of Calgary in Canada were compared. Chinese data were abstracted from the labor room log book of one large general hospital located in the Hai Zhu district of Guangzhou. Calgary birth data were abstracted from birth notification forms submitted to Calgary Health Services. Information included day of birth, time of delivery, type of delivery and parity. Calgary births are concentrated on Tuesdays to Fridays whereas in Guangzhou weekly patterns varied tremendously according to whether it was assisted or unassisted. Calgary births are below average at night and during evening shift. The time of birth in Guangzhou varied substantially with above average rates for non-assisted births noted at 0800-2400 h, and above average rates for assisted births noted at 0800-1700 h. Differences in hour of birth appeared to be related to obstetric intervention practices. Knowledge of birthing patterns are useful for effective hospital management.

A total of 18,334 live births and 376 neonatal deaths at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital were analyzed. The neonatal mortality rate has declined significantly from 49.5/1000 in 1974 to 16.4/1000 live births in 1981. The decrease mainly resulted from the reduction of mortality of full size infants (greater than 2500 g) and deaths resulting from perinatal asphyxia. Further reduction may be anticipated if careful attention is paid to the management of breech delivery and if a more intensive care for low birth weight infants is provided.