V. Fatal Haemorrhage from the Vagina in a New-born Child
R. G. McKerron
1908
BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
A b e~d e e n . I n October 1906, I attended Mrs. IT. in her first confinement. Labour, apparently at term, was easy, the second stage lasting about two hours. The child, which weighed six pounds, though fairly developed, seemed lacking in vitality, but n o anxiety was felt regarding it. O n the 4th day after birth there was a slight discharge of blood from thc ragiiia. I explained t o the n u~s e , who called to tell me, that it was not a serious matter and that the ooiidition required no
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... al treatment. The lmmorrbage continued bnl was slight in amount, little more than :L stain, and did not seem seriously to affect the cliiltl. On the eighth day the blccding increased and on the following day was cuniparatively profuse. The nurse was instructed to pass cotton wool snnlred in adrenalin solution into the vagina; this did not arrest the blcediiig, arid next morning I found the child collapsed, blanched and pulseless ; several diapers had becu soaked with blood from the 1-agina, while from an insignificant scratch o n tho upper lip over a drachm had been lost. The vagina was plugged with cotton wool, and there was no further bleeding, but the child died a few hours afterwards. There was no enlargement of the liver or spleen, and the stools at no time showed evidence of intestinal hmuorrhage. HEmorrhage in the new-born is not an uncommon occiirrence. It is nsually gastric, intestinal, or umbilical in origin ; vaginal hemorrhage is comparatively rare. Cullingworth collected 72 cases of heniorrhage from the genital organs of recently born female children. I n the series of cases collected by Ritter (190) and by Townsend (60) there is no instance of vaginal haemorrhage. The source of the blood from the vagina is difficult to ascertain, but that occasionally it is uterine Bas been shown by post mortem examination. Spencer, i n his series of post niortem examinations on stillborn children, sererul times found congestion of thc nterine I~U C O U S mem br ane. Hwmorrhage in the nem-born may be :in extremely serious condition. When from the umbilicus or intestine it not infrequently proves fatal, but I have never met with and never read of a case in which fatal hemorrhage from the vagina occurred in an infant. I n Mr. James' case2 the child was wealily and premature, and the hemor-No pcst-mortem examination as allowed. 1. Liwrpool and illanchcster M e d . and Surg. Bep , 1676, vol. iv. 2. Trans. Ohstrt. So?. Vol. xxxii, p. G6.
doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.1908.tb14989.x
fatcat:kiamhdruhfhdzktzvfdwhitncy