The disappearing vagina syndrome.

We describe the case histories of five women who developed a severe ulcerating and constricting condition of the vagina following hysterectomy. Three of these women had other classic ulcerative conditions of skin, mouth or colon. One of these women has been described previously.

Comparing fetal pulse oximetry with scalp pH.

Objective: To determine whether pulse oximetry has the potential to replace scalp blood pH sampling in infants with abnormal cardiotocographs.

Study Design: The average scalp oximetry reading in labor recorded with an experimental N400 system was compared with fetal scalp blood pH.

Results: The average oximetry readings were unrelated to the pH of aerobically sampled fetal scalp blood.

Fetal pulse oximetry: a new method of monitoring the fetus.

Experimental pulse oximetry devices, similar to the existing systems used in adult and neonatal monitoring, can be used on the fetus to provide safe, and rapid information about oxygenation. They have been calibrated using fetal lambs and validated in human cross-sectional studies. Experiments have shown that fetal oxygen saturation decreases during normal labour, and drops after a uterine contraction especially with oxytocin-induced tachysystole.