Antenatal Pathology, Part 4

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 18 of 39)

It is a well-known fact that injuries to the pregnant mother show visible effects on the person of the fetus. The older writers kept a careful record of the anomalous and extraordinary injuries of this character and of their effects. Brendelius tells us of hemorrhage from the mouth and nose of the fetus occasioned by the fall of the mother; Buchner mentions a case of fracture of the cranium from fright of the mother; Reuther describes a contusion of the os sacrum and abdomen in the mother from a fall, with fracture of the arm and leg of the fetus from the same cause; Sachse speaks of a fractured tibia in a fetus, caused by a fall of the mother; Slevogt relates an instance of rupture of the abdomen of a fetus by a fall of the mother; the Ephemerides contains accounts of injuries to the fetus of this nature, and among others mentions a stake as having been thrust into a fetus in utero; Verduc offers several examples, one a dislocation of the fetal foot from a maternal fall; Plocquet gives an instance of fractured femur; Walther describes a case of dislocation of the vertebrae from a fall; and there is also a case of a fractured fetal vertebra from a maternal fall. There is recorded a fetal scalp injury, together with clotted blood in the hair, after a fall of the mother: Autenrieth describes a wound of the pregnant uterus, which had no fatal issue, and there is also another similar case on record.

The modern records are much more interesting and wonderful on this subject than the older ones. Richardson speaks of a woman falling down a few weeks before her delivery. Her pelvis was roomy and the birth was easy; but the infant was found to have extensive wounds on the back, reaching from the 3d dorsal vertebra across the scapula, along the back of the humerus, to within a short distance of the elbow. Part of these wounds were cicatrized and part still granulating, which shows that the process of reparation is as active in utero as elsewhere.

Injuries about the genitalia would naturally be expected to exercise some active influence on the uterine contents; but there are many instances reported in which the escape of injury is marvelous. Gibb speaks of a woman, about eight months pregnant, who fell across a chair, lacerating her genitals and causing an escape of liquor amnii. There was regeneration of this fluid and delivery beyond term. The labor was tedious and took place two and a half months after the accident. The mother and the female child did well. Purcell reports death in a pregnant woman from contused wound of the vulva. Morland relates an instance of a woman in the fifth month of her second pregnancy, who fell on the roof of a woodshed by slipping from one of the steps by which she ascended to the roof, in the act of hanging out some clothes to dry. She suffered a wound on the internal surface of the left nympha 1 1/2 inch long and 1/2 inch deep. She had lost about three quarts of blood, and had applied ashes to the vagina to stop the bleeding. She made a recovery by the twelfth day, and the fetal sounds were plainly audible. Cullingworth speaks of a woman who, during a quarrel with her husband, was pushed away and fell between two chairs, knocking one of them over, and causing a trivial wound one inch long in the vagina, close to the entrance. She screamed, there was a gush of blood, and she soon died. The uterus contained a fetus three or four months old, with the membranes intact, the maternal death being due to the varicosity of the pregnant pudenda, the slight injury being sufficient to produce fatal hemorrhage. Carhart describes the case of a pregnant woman, who, while in the stooping position, milking a cow, was impaled through the vagina by another cow. The child was born seven days later, with its skull crushed by the cow's horn. The horn had entered the vagina, carrying the clothing with it.

There are some marvelous cases of recovery and noninterference with pregnancy after injuries from horns of cattle. Corey speaks of a woman of thirty-five, three months pregnant, weighing 135 pounds, who was horned by a cow through the abdominal parietes near the hypogastric region; she was lifted into the air, carried, and tossed on the ground by the infuriated animal. There was a wound consisting of a ragged rent from above the os pubis, extending obliquely to the left and upward, through which protruded the great omentum, the descending and transverse colon, most of the small intestines, as well as the pyloric extremity of the stomach. The great omentum was mangled and comminuted, and bore two lacerations of two inches each. The intestines and stomach were not injured, but there was considerable extravasation of blood into the abdominal cavity. The intestines were cleansed and an unsuccessful attempt was made to replace them. The intestines remained outside of the body for two hours, and the great omentum was carefully spread out over the chest to prevent interference with the efforts to return the intestines. The patient remained conscious and calm throughout; finally deep anesthesia was produced by ether and chloroform, three and a half hours after the accident, and in twenty minutes the intestines were all replaced in the abdominal cavity. The edges were pared, sutured, and the wound dressed. The woman was placed in bed, on the right side, and morphin was administered. The sutures were removed on the ninth day, and the wound had healed except at the point of penetration. The woman was discharged twenty days after, and, incredible to relate, was delivered of a well-developed, full-term child just two hundred and two days from the time of the accident. Both the mother and child did well.

Luce speaks of a pregnant woman who was horned in the lower part of the abdomen by a cow, and had a subsequent protrusion of the intestines through the wound. After some minor complications, the wound healed fourteen weeks after the accident, and the woman was confined in natural labor of a healthy, vigorous child. In this case no blood was found on the cow's horn, and the clothing was not torn, so that the wound must have been made by the side of the horn striking the greatly distended abdomen.

Richard, quoted also by Tiffany, speaks of a woman, twenty-two, who fell in a dark cellar with some empty bottles in her hand, suffering a wound in the abdomen 2 inches above the navel on the left side 8 cm. long. Through this wound a mass of intestines, the size of a man's head, protruded. Both the mother and the child made a good convalescence. Harris cites the instance of a woman of thirty, a multipara, six months pregnant, who was gored by a cow; her intestines and omentum protruded through the rip and the uterus was bruised. There was rapid recovery and delivery at term. Wetmore of Illinois saw a woman who in the summer of 1860, when about six months pregnant, was gored by a cow, and the large intestine and the omentum protruded through the wound. Three hours after the injury she was found swathed in rags wet with a compound solution of whiskey and camphor, with a decoction of tobacco. The intestines were cold to the touch and dirty, but were washed and replaced. The abdomen was sewed up with a darning needle and black linen thread; the woman recovered and bore a healthy child at the full maturity of her gestation. Crowdace speaks of a female pauper, six months pregnant, who was attacked by a buffalo, and suffered a wound about 1 1/2 inch long and 1/2 inch wide just above the umbilicus. Through this small opening 19 inches of intestine protruded. The woman recovered, and the fetal heart-beats could be readily auscultated.