Dead Foetus in Womb - Removal

DEAD FOETUS IN WOMB

This condition, while some- times extremely uncertain of diagnosis, is most important, for, as soon as foetal life is extinct, the mass, with membranes and placenta, becomes a foreign body, and one which is most apt to undergo putrefactive changes; its expulsion, then, becomes a matter of immediate necessity, and often is recognized too late.

If no air reach the dead foetus, 
mummification, calcification, or fatty degeneration ma}- follow; but once 
fetal death is proven (for the symptoms of which the reader is referred 
to the text-books on obstetics) , the uterus should be emptied at once 
and its cavity washed out antiseptically. 

Any of the recognized methods of exciting uterine action will 
bring about the desired object ; but the use of the flexible, bipolar, 
intra-uterine electrode of Apostoli is a safe and sure means, when connected with the faradic current, and is especially easy of administration, 
since no care to preserve the life of the foetus is necessary.