Evisceration as fetal destructive operation: an art revisited

Fetal destructive operation is a vanishing art today. In an era of increasing cesarean deliveries it has become a historic event. Incidence of destructive operation has varied from various Indian hospitals 0.09–0.28 %. Evisceration is one of the rarest of all destructive operations, performed in cases of cephalopelvic disproportion with large fetal abdominal or thoracic tumors and fetal malformations, which are incompatible with life. Less than 50 cases of fetal evisceration have been reported in the literature so far. We are presenting a case of gross fetal abdominal malformation in a multigravida woman, which necessitated internal podalic version followed by evisceration and breech extraction.