George P. Heckel

Arteriovenous shunts in the myometrium

Abstract Arteriovenous shunts were found in the muscular portion of 16 of 25 surgically removed uteri. These shunts were demonstrated by plastic casts of the vessels obtained by injecting arteries and veins with vinyl acetate of different colors. Glass spheres with a diameter many times that of capillaries passed from arteries into veins with the plastic. In several myomatous uteri large venous sinusoids containing plastic from both arteries and veins were found around the periphery of the tumors, indicating that shunts were present. Shunts were demonstrated in 4 pregnant uteri, but there was no perfect correlation of shunts with any other physiological or pathological condition. The possible significance of these findings is discussed.

The effect of progesterone in adolescent girls and young women with functional uterine bleeding

Abstract The detailed menstrual records of 24 adolescent girls and young women with functional uterine bleeding are given. These subjects were given progesterone or anhydrohydroxy progesterone, and the effect on the menstrual pattern was observed over a period of many months in most cases. In general, the administration of approximately 30 mg. of progesterone was followed by cessation of bleeding within ten days of the last injection. Progesterone deprivation bleeding occurred frequently, thereby explaining the bleeding occurring in the first few days after therapy. In about one-third of the observations, normal cycles occurred for four months or more after therapy, whereas in another third there was a recurrence in less than four months. Even in these, however, there was no recurrence in the first month. In the final third of the observations, amenorrhea followed immediately or after two or three cycles.