Monthly Obstetric Meetings

emphasisedl the difficulties which hadl to be met in producinig such a report. Ihc recommen(latioins of the Royal College of Obstetricians and(l Gyvncologists had been a help in this respect. anld tilc report tolloWe(l thc plal suggested by their committee. The speaker sumnmiiarised the mainl features ol the} report, and compared them wvith similar reports fromii teni other hospitals in Great 13ritaini for the same year. I)r. XV. A. 13. C(ampbell then presented the PEaediatric sectioll of the report. An extensive disCuIsSioll Oln the report ensued. A C&sarean sectioni rate of 9.86 per cent. and a forceps rate of 21.69 per cenit. called for special conmmenit from the chairman, and he emphasised various measures which should be adopted in order to reduce them. A meecting was held on the 26th \April, MIr. H. L. Hardy Greer beinig in the chair. Alr. WV. Campbell preseiited(extracts from the Jubilee Maternity Hospital report for-1947, andl comipare(l tlheii withl the correspon(ling figLures frolm the lR.oyal Maternity Hospital. Dr. J. Pattersonl described a casc of rupturedl uterus. Thle paticnt hacl a normal delivery in her own home eleven months after myomectomy had been performed. She collapsed onie hour after delivery and was admitted to hospital, showing signs of intraperitoneal hlmorrhage. No abnormality was detected on vaginal examination. On opening the abdomeni, a rupture of the posterior wall of the upper segment was discovered ancd a subtotal hysterectomy was performed. The patient had an uneventful recovery-. Int the ensuing (liscussioln, several speakers stressedl the extreme rarity of rupture occurring througlh a mnyomectomv scar, and the good fortunle of the patienit in sturxviving such a catastroplhe following delivery in her own home. At a meeting held on the :31st NMay, Mr. H. L. Hardy Greer took the chair, and Dr. Michael Solomons opened a discussion on "Long Labour." Cases of prolonged labour-offer a serious problem in judgement to the obstetrician. He must endeavour to avoid unnecessary Caesarean sections without increasing the maternal or foetal risks. The speaker is investigating all cases of prolonged labour occurring in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, during his term as Assistant Master, and, for this purpose, he has chosen the arbitrary figure of forty-eight hours in labour. In one year there have been ninty-five such cases (2.4 per cent. of all deliveries), and of these, only five had previously been delivered of a viable child. In ninty-one cases the foetus presented as a …