This article focuses on the historical confrontation between Western obstetrical medicine and indigenous midwifery in nineteenth-century Siam (Thailand). Beginning with the campaign of medical missionaries to reform Siamese obstetrical care, it explores the types of arguments that were employed in the contest between these two forms of expert knowledge. Missionary-physicians used their anatomic...

BACKGROUND Current evidences show that regional anesthesia is associated with decreased risk of complications after major surgery. However, the effects of combined regional-general anesthesia remain controversial. The purpose of our study was to analyze the impact of anesthesia (combined epidural-general anesthesia vs. general anesthesia) on the risk of postoperative complications in patients u...

BACKGROUND The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of and the association between shoulder contracture and osseous deformity in a cohort of children with an obstetrical brachial plexus injury and to identify the risk factors for these complications. METHODS In a retrospective cohort study, all children with an obstetrical brachial plexus injury who had been born between Ja...

A velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord is characterized by the atypical aspect of the placental end of the cord, consisting in divergent umbilical vessels surrounded by fetal membranes and with no Wharton’s jelly present, resulting a cord that is inserted rather into membranes than the placental disk. By the divergence of the umbilical vessels as they travers the amnion and the chorion b...

BACKGROUND The study was planned to review the case series of pregnant women requiring intensive care due to severe acute maternal morbidity in the public sector university hospital, in order to identify failures and priorities in maternal health care provision in Pakistan. METHODS A retrospective case series study was performed of critically ill obstetrics patients admitted to general intens...

Introduction. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in a pregnant woman is rare. When occurring, AMI is a major cause of maternal and neonatal death. By presenting the following case we describe the dilemma concerning the timing of delivery. Case. A 36-year-old, multiparous women, at 35 6/7 weeks of gestation, suffered from an AMI due to an acute blockage of the left anterior descending artery (LAD...

Background: The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of grand multiparity and the associated risks factors. Methods: Four hundred thirty grand mutliparas (parity 5 or more) were compared with multiparous population (parity 2-4) with regard to maternal age, gestational age, mode of delivery, fetal and maternal outcomes and intercurrent medical and obstetrical problems. Result...