British journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
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Br J Obstet Gynaecol · Jan 1988
Review Clinical TrialChoice of oxytocic preparation for routine use in the management of the third stage of labour: an overview of the evidence from controlled trials.
Prophylactic use of oxytocics reduces the risk of postpartum haemorrhage by about 40%. The analysis presented in this paper assesses which oxytocic preparation is associated with the least risk of postpartum haemorrhage and examines the relative effects of different preparations on the length of the third stage, the risk of manual removal of the placenta, blood pressure and other side-effects. A mixture of oxytocin and ergometrine (Syntometrine) appears to be the safest and most effective prophylactic of the alternatives which have been compared, but the quality of the evidence is not satisfactory. There is scope for a randomized comparison of Syntometrine with oxytocin to obtain unbiased and more precise estimates of their relative effects on postpartum haemorrhage, blood pressure and unpleasant side-effects.
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Br J Obstet Gynaecol · Jan 1988
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in obstetrics. I. Maternal anatomy.
We assessed the ability of magnetic resonance, a recently introduced imaging technique, to demonstrate the maternal anatomy in obstetrics. The signal intensity of different maternal tissues using T1 and T2 weighted sequences was examined. ⋯ The placenta and cervix have a distinctive appearance facilitating the diagnosis of placenta praevia. The unique demonstration of cervical morphology will offer the potential for investigation into the ill-understood conditions of cervical dystocia and cervical incompetence.