LandauCesareanDelivery1950

1950 - Placental transfusion for babies born by cesarean section

Landau et al. adopted a new procedure for cesarean deliveries:

"The assistant designated to care for the infant is scrubbed and

stands to

the left of the operator. After the infant is delivered from

the uterus this

assistant holds the infant by the legs with the head

down. The pharynx is

aspirated by means of a rubber bulb syringe.

The cord is neither clamped

nor severed. The placenta is

separated from the uterus and wrapped in a

large turkish towel...

...The placenta is suspended from a standard by means of a clamp

attached

to the towel...

...The cord is not cut until its blood vessels have collapsed. It is then

clamped, cut, and tied in the usual manner. The placenta is usually

drained

and the cord collapsed in from six to ten minutes." [6, p424]

Landau et al. commented that in 87 sections done since instituting this

technique, there were no instances of respiratory distress, and that for this

reason they did not feel justified in running a control series. This seems far

more ethical than the current academic standard requiring random

assignment of subjects to groups to receive a treatment or to not receive the

treatment.

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