AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TRACHELORRHAPHY

The operation of trachelorrhaphy has so often been unsatisfactory that the tendency has been to substitute amputation of the cervix. Repair of the cervix, however, is so simple; and, when the result is good, the patient is left in so much better condition than after amputation that it is well to search for the cause of the dissatisfaction and try to find some way to make the operation successful. The trouble with trachelorrhaphy is that the site of the repair is apt to be so thin that it cannot possibly withstand another labor. A section through such a repaired cervix would show a cavity barely closed at the side. This poor result is brought about, I believe, by the faulty method of through-and-through stitching by which the side of the cervix is compressed to thinness, the ligature drawing the mucous membrane within the canal almost into apposition with