The following summary may be serviceable for advanced study or reference:
Preparation.—
Thorough asepsis, both subjective and objective.
Patient should be pulled down to the foot of the labor bed with feet in the stirrups, or put upon the kitchen table or across the bed with the legs held in the lithotomy position. (For breech cases, legs should not be fastened.)
Bladder and rectum must be empty.
Anæsthetic is necessary.
The position of the head must be accurately known.
Facilities for the treatment of asphyxia neonatorum must be at hand.
Conditions.—
Cervix effaced and os dilated, except when maternal or fœtal life is threatened.