REMOVAL OF A FOREIGN BODY INTRODUCED INTO THE UTERINE CERVICAL CANAL TO PREVENT CONCEPTION

Foreign bodies are sometimes introduced into the uterine cavity for the purpose of terminating an undesired pregnancy. Most frequently, they are employed in the absence of any legitimate indication. These foreign bodies are responsible for a certain number of punctured and perforating wounds of the body and of the cervix of the uterus, inflicted by way of the vaginal canal. Some foreign bodies also have been inserted into the cervical canal to be retained more or less permanently; some of these devices are introduced and retained in the uterine cervical cavity merely to prevent conception. That their value as such is debatable, is amply demonstrated by what follows: I have lately removed from the uterine cavity of several patients referred to me by other physicians a device which had been introduced into the uterine cervical canal with the positive assurance that conception was impossible as long as the "Jentsch self-retaining