Obstetric and Gynecological Nursing - The Carter Center

Complications
- The immediate complications are hemorrhage from the
placental site, or the wound; gut distention and ileus;
infection; pulmonary collapse and thrombo embolism.
- The late complications are abdominal hernia, intestinal
obstruction due to adhesions, and vague abdominal pain.
10.3 Destructive Operations /Embryotomy/
It may occasionally be necessary, in the interest of saving the
mother's life, to destroy the fetus. These drastic measures will
only be undertaken if there is gross fetal abnormality causing
fetal pelvic disproportion. The alternative is caesarean
section. The fetus may be equally difficult to deliver
abdominally and may still need to be destroyed first. What
ever the situation it is traumatic for all concerned and calls for
sensitive support of both the family and the staff.
The instruments used for destructive operations are of
necessity brutal and must be used with great care to avoid
injuring the mother.
The main operations are; Decapitation, craniotomy,
evisceration and cleidotomy.
Decapitation – may be necessary when a shoulder
presentation has become impacted. There are also various
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