COMMON COMPLICATIONS OF HYSTERECTOMY

Some of the common complications associated with abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy, performed in a teaching hospital, are reviewed. Case records of 284 abdominal hysterectomies and 101 vaginal hysterectomies are analyzed.The incidence of blood transfusion and of urinary tract infection was greater following vaginal hysterectomy than abdominal hysterectomy. The morbidity rate of vaginal hysterectomy was two and a half times as great as that of abdominal hysterectomy. Neither the age of the patient nor the factor of previous abdominal or major gynecological surgery influenced the morbidity of vaginal hysterectomy.It is apparent that the preoperative recognition and treatment of urinary tract infection and anemia should reduce the incidence of postoperative morbidity and the use of postoperative blood transfusion in both abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy.

THE EFFECT OF GRANULOCYTOPENIA ON EXPERIMENTAL TUBERCULIN FEVER

The febrile responses of hypersensitive, granulocytopenic and hypersensitive, non-granulocytopenic animals to specific antigen have been compared with the following results:

1. Hypersensitive animals, whether granulocytopenic or not, had an equal febrile response when challenged with specific antigen.

2. Hypersensitive animals with agranulocytosis developed fever when challenged with specific antigen.

3. Serum from granulocytopenic, antigen-challenged, hypersensitive donors contained a pyrogenic factor as potent in normal recipients as was serum from non-granulocytopenic, hypersensitive donors.

It is suggested therefore that the granulocyte is not the source of endogenous serum pyrogen in the fever of delayed hypersensitivity and is not necessary for the febrile response of the hypersensitive animal to specific antigen.

CHRONIC HYPOPLASTIC NEUTROPENIA

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