Word: cervix
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...that he pioneered. German Gynecologist Ernst Gräfenberg, born in 1881, began inserting rings in the wombs of his patients in the 1920s. He first used rings made of surgical silk, but soon switched to silver wire. The insertion of wire required dilatation of the cervix, but Dr. Gräfenberg reported few complications and fewer unwanted pregnancies. Yet when other doctors decided to follow his example, there were many complaints-mainly excessive bleeding and inflammation in the pelvis. The rings fell into disrepute. After Dr. Grafenberg settled in the U.S. in 1940, he gave...
...nature of the material, provided only that it is inert enough to cause little or no reaction in the woman's tissues. Several IUCDS are flexible, such as those of plastic (a special polyethylene), silk or nylon thread, and can usually be inserted without dilatation of the cervix. Even so, insertion must be done by a doctor, and preferably by a specialist in gynecology. Insertion of a metal ring, with dilatation of the cervix, definitely calls for specialized skill...
Although no one yet knows just how IUCDS prevent conception, it is certain that-unlike the diaphragm, which covers the cervix-they do not prevent passage of the sperm into the uterus and along the Fallopian tube to meet the egg. Since they definitely trigger excessive contractions of the uterine muscles and of the Fallopian tubes, they may cause displacement of the egg before it has time to be fertilized or to settle in the wall of the womb...
Among women there were even more severe cases in which massive cancers had spread from uterus to large bowel and bladder, or from bowel to uterus and bladder. For them Dr. Brunschwig devised a still more radical operation, removing not only the vagina, cervix and uterus, but much of the lower colon and also the bladder. This necessitates making an artificial bladder from a section of small bowel, or leading the ure ters into the colon, which then empties both urine and feces into a "wet colostomy" bag. After more conventional operations for rectal cancer that has not spread widely...
...pills cause cancer? Medical purists argue that no one can be certain for 30 years or so. But present evidence from almost eight years' experience indicates that the answer is likely to be no. There are even a few shreds of hopeful evidence that cancer of the cervix and womb may be less common among women taking the pills...