Ralph H. Jenkins

Pyeloureteral dilatation of pregnancy after death of the fetus

Abstract Upper urinary tract dilatation has been demonstrated in the monkey after death of the fetus, but while the placenta remained functional toward the maternal organism. The unruptured uterine contents were secured at hysterotomy in two instances and recovered at the time of a spontaneous abortion in the third. These three histories of primary death of the fetus parallel earlier experiments in which the fetus alone was surgically removed. Thus, pyeloureteral dilatation in pregnancy is associated with the functioning of the maternal surface of the placenta during the physiological state of pregnancy without dependence on the continued presence or life of the fetus.