episiotomy


Term: episiotomy
Literally meaning: “insicion of pubis region”
Origin: Anc Greek
επίσιον/epision/( the pubic region)
+ τομή/tome(=section, slice, trunk, stalk) >τέμνω/temno(=cut
Coined/History
The term was coined by Austrian obstetrician Carl Braun Ritter von Ferwald (1822–1891) in 1857, who he believed that the procedure was inadvisable and unnecessary although benefits of the episiotomy was first reffered by Sir Fielding Ould (1710- 1789) in 1749.  Ould,  in his Treatise of Midwifery in Three Parts,  recommended the procedure for those cases in which the external vaginal opening is so tight that labor is dangerously prolonged. The first report of the procedure in the United States was 110 years later in a journal entitled The Stethoscope and Virginia Medical Gazette. Taliaferro cut a small mediolateral episiotomy to facilitate delivery in young eclamptic women. The use of episiotomy was expanded in 1921, when Joseph Bolivar DeLee (1869-1942) published a paper entitled “The Prophylactic Forceps Operation” which redefined childbirth as pathogenic in nature.
Sources
1. Ould F: A Treatise of Midwifery. Dublin, Nelson and Connor 1742.
7. Scott, JR Episiotomy and vaginal trauma Obster Gynecol Clin N Am 32) 307-321, 2005
Definition
Episiotomy is  incision of the perineal body and vagina to enlarge the vaginal opening and facilitate delivery is referred to as an episiotomy. The term episiotomy actually refers to an incision into the external genitals. The more precise name for the obstetric incision is perineotomy, an incision made in the perineum. The use of episiotomy has been said to decrease trauma to the fetusand protect the soft maternal tissues.  

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