Volume 2

Note on the stethoscopic examination of the pregnant uterus / [Andrew Anderson].

  • Anderson, Andrew, 1818-1870.
Date:
1844]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Note on the stethoscopic examination of the pregnant uterus / [Andrew Anderson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    STETHOSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF “ E PREGNANT UTERUS. By ANDREW ANDERSON, M.D., anderson’s university, Glasgow. Extracted from the Loudon and Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science.—February 1844. The following observations refer to the employment of the stetho¬ scope in examining the pregnant uterus;— 1. How early in pregnancy can the pulsations of the foetal heart be heard? On 14th August 1842, I examined a woman in whom the uterus was felt enlarged upon examination per vaginam, but formed no tumour above the pubis. She had weaned her last child on the 25th of March; exactly a month after this, that is, on the 25th of April, she menstruated, and the flow continued for a week. The pregnancy had then lasted for three months and a half at most. The foetal heart was heard distinctly by a friend as well as by my¬ self. We guessed its frequency at 160 or 170. At early periods in pregnancy the detection of the pulsation of the foetal heart is an uncertain affair, though, when it is heard, it at once renders all other proof of the presence of a foetus unneces¬ sary. 2. At the full time, just before or during labour, are these pulsa¬ tions always audible? I examined 180 women, and in 12 failed to hear them; in these 12 cases, and in these only, the child was born dead. In most of them the heart was never heard to beat, and the foetus had been evidently dead for some time ; in others, heard at first, it became afterwards inaudible; and the child had plainly died in the birth. I conclude, that if on a careful examination, there be no pulsation heard, the child may be confidently held as dead: the importance of this assurance in cases of lingering labour, is evident. But the examination must be adequate—made by one who has been accustomed to 4use the stethoscope, and to use it to hear those intra-uterine pulsations,—by one who is allowed carefully to examine every region of the belly in perfect silence, and who re-