DISPLACEMENT OF THE PREGNANT UTERUS 159 



so that the primary uterine contractions soon cease, and should 

 the end of gestation not yet be reached, a quarter torsion may 

 exist some time without endangering foetal life. Rotations of 

 180 degrees give rise to circulatory troubles, followed by 

 asphyxia and death of the foetus unless torsion is remedied in 

 time. 



The blood in the placentae becomes laden with carbon 

 dioxide when venous return flow is interfered with. By it the 

 nerve-centres of the uterus become irritated and pains set in. 

 When this torsion is relieved by proper treatment, the cause of 

 the pains is removed and gestation may run its normal course 

 (Felder, Baer). Abortion often follows. 



Felder describes a case where torsion in the thirty-fourth 

 week of pregnancy was removed by rolling the cow, followed 

 by birth of a living calf in five and one-half weeks. 



In torsion of 180 degrees or over, where the normal con- 

 dition is not established, pains cease in two or three days ; the 

 uterus is exhausted ; appetite, unless previously diminished, is 

 absent, and symptoms of peritonitis are noticeable. The calf 

 mummifies, as air is excluded. Should many manipulations 

 have been practiced to effect detorsion, so that the foetal 

 envelopes are ruptured, the foetal waters partly escaped and air 

 enters the uterine cavity, decomposition of the calf sets in and 

 it becomes emphysematous. In consequence of this, septic 

 metritis and metro-peritonitis, as diffuse phlegmonous states, 

 with fatal termination within six to ten days, set in. A high 

 degree of torsion often terminates in rupture of the broad 

 uterine ligaments or rupture of the uterus. As a consequence 

 of a hemorrhage, which often follows, death may occur within 

 a very few hours. 



When air is absolutely excluded in torsions of 180 degrees 

 or more, a chronic peritonitis may set in, inducing adhesions 

 of the uterus and adjoining organs. 



Pathological Anatomy. — Post mortem examination made on 

 a cow, which died as a result of torsio uteri, reveals the morbid 

 changes of a peritonitis and the malposition of the uterus. 

 The former may have had an acute course — that is, of the 



