Puerperal sepsis in the 19th century and Trendlenburg's ligature of the internal iliacal vein

• Published in: Hämostaseologie Vol. 27; no. 2; p. 111
• Main Author: Hach, W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; German
• Published: Germany 01.05.2007
• Subjects: Female; History, 19th Century; Humans; Iliac Vein - surgery; Male; Pregnancy; Puerperal Disorders - history; Sepsis - history
• ISSN: 0720-9355

With the establishment of institutions for child delivery in city hospitals and with incorporation of routine autopsy into the field of activity of assistants at birth, childbed fever spread epidemically and was fatal in most cases. Nearly every third woman in childbed died of puerperal sepsis in the Hôtel Dieu in Paris and in the Erste Wiener Gebärklinik in Vienna. The tragic fate of obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis began here, he recognized disease transmission from pus and body parts by physicians during the process of delivery. At the end of the 19(th) century puerperal sepsis occurred less frequently, its course was nevertheless equally dramatic. Pathophysiologically a septic thrombophlebitis of the ovarian vein was seen as the primary cause of the pyaemia. Yet, the ligature of the vessel did not alter the deadly course of the disease. Based on sections Trendlenburg realized that the internal iliacal vein plays a much greater role in protracted pyaemia. Thereupon he performed a ligature of this vessel. The long course of a complicated infection took a good turn with this operation. Trendlenburg's ligature and resection of the ovarian and internal iliacal vein were usually combined with hysterectomy. In the following decades this great operation of seriously ill women in childbed found agreement as well as rejection. Most interventions did not save the lives of the patients. Before antibiotic therapy was introduced, physicians were almost helpless against puerperal pyaemia.