Abstract
The present investigation was planned for the study of the changes in uterine contractility in the various pathological conditions that are usually associated with the clinical picture of toxemia: (1) pure pre-eclampsia, (2) chronic hypertension, (3) chronic renal disease, and (4) combinations of these conditions. Four groups of women representing these conditions were divided into groups at term and somewhat earlier and according to whether they were receiving parenteral antihypertensive therapy. Intra-amniotic pressure changes, maternal arterial blood pressure, and fetal heart rate were recorded in 64 patients. The fundamental abnormality of uterine contractility in pre-eclampsia and similar medical problems was found to be the early appearance of a pattern characteristic of more advanced stages of pregnancy. The contractions have a tendency to appear more often, but their intensity and the total uterine activity and the uterine tonus remain within normal ranges and uterine reactivity is lower than normal when more than 4 milliunits of oxytocin per minute are administered. This type of contractility seems to be the common pattern of premature labor whatever its cause and is not a behavior specifically characteristic of the uterus in the toxemias of pregnancy.
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