Ferguson reflex

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In medicine, the Ferguson reflex is a reflex that is used to support labor during childbirth .

The mechanical stretching stimulus that the fetus exerts on the cervix and vagina is conducted via the spinal cord into the diencephalon , where it triggers the release of oxytocin . Whether epidural anesthesia may lead to a reduced release of oxytocin is controversial. The Ferguson reflex is to be distinguished from the evacuation reflex, a spinal reflex that is directed via the pudendal nerve and triggers the abdominal press .

The Ferguson reflex was first described in 1941 by the Canadian physician James Kenneth Wallace Ferguson (1907-1999).

literature

  • JKW Ferguson: A study of the motility of the intact uterus at term . In: Surgical and Gynecological Obstetrics , No. 73, 1941, pp. 359-366.
  • Michel Odent: The Fetus Ejection Reflex . In: Birth . Vol. 14, No. 2, 1987, pp. 104-105.
  • Higuchi T u. a .: Pelvic neurectomy abolishes the fetus-expulsion reflex and induces dystocia in the rat . In: Exp Neurol , May, 1987, pp. 443-455.

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