A combination of the English and French obstetric locks, for the prevention of dangerous compression of the fetal head by forceps / by A. Ernest Gallant.

  • Gallant, A. Ernest (Albert Ernest), 1861-
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A combination of the English and French obstetric locks, for the prevention of dangerous compression of the fetal head by forceps / by A. Ernest Gallant. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    us: (a) If the cavity of the blades as a whole cor- responds to the size of the head within the grasp of the blades the handles will lock without difficulty or compression. (b) If the cranial diameters are greater than the cavity of the blades, in order to bring the handles together the head must be com- pressed, though in most cases within the limit of safety set by Ferran {Med. and Surg. Rep., Phila., 1877, xxxvii, 446), as one-half inch, (c) If, how- ever, the cervix is only partially dilated or rigid, or the vagina and vulva undilated, or the pelvic inlet or outlet narrowed, when traction is made these structures will offer resistance to advance, and by pressure on the convexity of the blades force them together, imbed the tips well into the delicate cranial structures, compress the head with a force which has been determined by Delore to average about one-half of the traction power exerted, and result in depression or fracture, sometimes intracranial hemorrhage, and a disabled or dead infant. In this undue approximation of the blades lies the great danger especially as the maximum compres- sing force is exerted on that portion of the head em- braced within the tips, be it occipito-frontal, bi- parietal, bi-mastoid, or any diameter involving the base of the skull. Misdirected Efforts for Controlling Compres- sion. According to Hodge {Am. Journ. Obstct., 1875-6, viii, 1) Edward Foster, in his Principles and Practice of Midwifery, 1781, placed “A stop or kind of nail, to pass from one handle to the other at their extremities for the excellent purpose of preventing too much pressure upon the head of the child.”