Premature labor 33.4 per cent.
Version and extraction 41. per cent.
Cæsarean section 13. per cent.
Leopold concludes that while Cæsarean section cannot yet be substituted
in all cases for craniotomy, it is at least justifiable as an
alternative when the following conditions are present or possible, viz.:
Complete asepsis.
The patient strong and not long in labor.
The fœtal heart-beats normal in rate and rhythm.
Strauch (Arch. f. Gyn.), analyzing the results in twenty-eight cases of
induced premature labor arrives at like conclusions. While the mortality
in cases of the mothers was _nil_, the fœtal mortality was fifty-five
per cent. The rights of the fœtus demand a more frequent choice of
Cæsarean section, the mortality of which by the modern method is thus
far 11.8 per cent. for the mothers and 8 per cent. for the children.
Dr. Felice La Torre, of Paris, reaches the conclusion from extensive
clinical research that craniotomy or premature labor is better than
Cæsarean section, since the former saves all the mothers.
Krassowski (Arch. f. Gyn., B. 32 H. 2) reports five Porro and two
Saenger operations saving six mothers and five children. K. uses thymol
1:1,000 for instruments, and the biniodide of mercury 1:4,000 for the
hands, etc. He seals the abdominal wound with collodion to which
biniodide of mercury has been added.
Zweifel reports six additional cases of the Cæsarean operation after
Saenger, saving five mothers and all the children.