Prospective risk of stillbirth.

Some fraction of any cohort of fetuses alive at a given gestational age will ultimately die before birth. The residual prospective risk of stillbirth as a function of gestational age was calculated from records of the New York City Department of Health covering 370,051 reported births between 1987-1989, including 2454 stillbirths. In the general population, the prospective risk of stillbirth at 26 weeks was one in 150 and, because the time distributions of live births and stillbirths were not proportionate, the risk changed with gestational age.

Sacral colpopexy for vaginal vault prolapse.

Sacral colpopexy has become the treatment of choice for post-hysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse at the New York Hospital--Cornell Medical Center. A review of the institutional experience with this technique since 1972 indicates that 20 of 21 patients obtained good vaginal support and preservation of functional capabilities with minimal complications.

Aspiration curettage for asymptomatic patients receiving estrogen.

Recent epidemiologic data suggest that patients treated with exogenous estrogens have an increased risk of developing endometrial carcinoma and support the concept that patients taking estrogens must be monitored with special vigor. The hypothesis that endometrial aspiration curettage might be an appropriate modality to accomplish adequate surveillance was tested from January 1, 1976, to January 1, 1977, on a group of 208 consecutive patients undergoing hormonal replacement therapy. Although no patient in the test group experienced abnormal or unusual bleeding, focal adenomatous hyperplasia or a more severe lesion was found in 16.

Lymphatic obstruction in carcinomatous ascites.

The i.p. inoculation of C3H mice with 5 times 10-6 cells of a transplantable ovarian carcinoma invariably evokes accumulation of large amounts of ascitic fluid.