Dan W. Beacham

Rupture of the uterus at New Orleans Charity Hospital

Part I of this continuing study consisted of the cases managed during a period of 37½ years and those in Part II embraced 18½ years. The incidence in the former was 1:1,328 deliveries and in the latter 1:1,951. During the last decade the ratio has been 1:2,531 deliveries. In Series A the maternal and fetal mortality rates were 47.9 and 79.6 per cent, respectively, while in Series B these figures were reduced to 8.9 and 52.4 per cent. Hemorrhage and shock claimed the lives of 22 mothers in the first group and 8 in the latter. Infection was the cause of death of 19 mothers in Series A but was not responsible for any in Series B. Emphasis is again placed on prevention, early recognition, and prompt individualized treatment.

Ectopic pregnancy at New Orleans Charity Hospital

S INCE the publication in 1921 of the excellent monograph on extrauterine pregnancy by Schumann, who served as president of the American (:ynecological Society in 1945 and 1946, the Transactions of that organization reveal that the current president, Rubin, reported at, the 1934 meeting on an analysis of 90 uterotubal insufflation cases showing the status of the residual tube following ectopic pregnancy in relation to sterility and further pregnancy. In 1939 Jones presented a paper, co-authored by John Brewer, the present secretary, on arterial phenomena associated with uterine. blcedirig in tubal pregnancy. At the meeting five years later Williams, president, in 1955, analyzed 101 fatalities from ectopic gestation. As shown by Table I this condition continues to take its toll. During the last five years for which the figures are available it was reported as the cause. of death in 868 cases, 416 of which patients were white and 452 were non-white.