Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-28
MATERNITY MADE
ALMOST PAINLESS
New York Hospital Uses
"Pernocton," New Drug,
With Success.
Special Dispatch TO The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. July pa new method
Of reducing pain during childbirth
which is almost without pain for the
mother and without danger to either
mother or child has been worked out
by obstetricians at Sloane Hospital for
Women here and IS now being used In
a majority of cases at that institution,
it has been learned.
This method, which was first intro
duced in Germany, involves the use of
drug called pernocton. After a series
Of prolonged and careful experiments
at Sloane Hospital doctors there have
found it so successful they believe it
Will become universal
With the use of pernocton the mother
feels some pain. but does not remenl-
Der it afterward. The drug is said to
be absolutely safe for the mother and
without any of the possible Ill effects
on the baby that have caused other
methods to be abandoned. among them
the much-publicized twilight sleep.
Will Make Results Known.
Thus far the pernocton method is
not being generally used, nor has its
successful use at Sloane Hospital been
made public. In a forthcoming issue
OF the American Journal of Obstetrics
and Gynecolcgy, however, DR.. Radford
Brown. resident obstetrician of the hos
pital, will make the. results of his ex-
periments known to his fellow practi-
TONERS generally.
DR.. Brown was out Of the city yester-
day and officials of the hospital de-
clined all comment. 1t was learned au-
thoritatively, however, that the new
method was first tried out at the hos
pital about two years ago, and that
exhaustive experiments were carried
on. For the last six months it has been
used in the majority of maternity
cases. 1t is not employed in all
cases, it was explained. for the reason
that there is no universal method
which is applicable to all mothers.
Administration May BE Repeated.
Pernocton is administered to the
mother as soon as the pain becomes
severe. From two and two-tenths to
six and Six-tenths cubic centimeters
are injected into her veins and she
falls asleep. The effects of the drug
last from two TO four hours, after
which the injection can be repeated,
If necessary, with absolute safety, Il
was said.
In some respects the action Of per-
motion is like that of twilight sleep,
which also caused the patient to fall
into doze from which she ayoke
with no memory of pain. Twilight
sleep, however, was found in a few
cases to have the same effect on the
baby as on the mother-to leave 1t
drowsy, and occasionally the babies
could not be resuscitated. While the
proportion Of such cases was not large
it caused twilight sleep to be discarded
by obstetricians several years ago.
The Pernocton method has been
found to be as safe for the child as
for the mother. 1t was explained that
in conducting the experiments obstet-
ricians at Sloane tried to find danger
rather than good points in the method.
and not until they had been convinced
of its safety was 1t put into general
use at the hospital.
Earlier Methods Discarded.
For many years medical men have
experimental to find ways of lessening
the rigors of childbirth. even hypao-
tism being tried. Morphine was in
jected at one time: later method was
the giving of little whiffs Of chloroform
or ether. Nitrous oxide was next tried,
to be followed by twilight sleep, and
then by the present prevailing method
OF rectal analgesia with ther. All
these had the disadvantage either of
being unsafe for mother or child or,
If safe. Of not really preventing pain.
Sloane Hospital for Women. at 168th
Street near Broadway, is one of the
Medical Center institutions. 1t Is afih-
ated with the College Of Physicians and
Surgeons of Columbia University. Es-
tablished in 1888, it was formerly at
Fifty ninth street and Ninth avenue,
but with the erection Of the Medical
Center it moved uptown. In recent
years an average of l 800 babies q year
have been born there. DR.. Benjamin P.
Watson is director