Maternal and foetal mortality in placenta praevia.

As can be seen from Table 1 the reduction in both maternal and foetal mortality in the 16 years since 1945 has been gratifying and to assess the reasons for this improvement a series of 425 cases of confirmed placenta praevia has been critically analyzed. At the same time the opportunity was taken of studying the factors contributing to maternal and foetal deaths to see if any further improvement was possible. These 425 patients comprise all those dealt with in the Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast, in the 16-year period between 1945-1960. For purposes of comparison and to indicate the trends in treatment, the series has been subdivided into two eight-year periods, 1945-1 952 and 1953-1 960.