Tupelo Tent
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
This 1930s encyclopedia article discusses the use of tupelo wood tents for dilating the uterine cervix. It notes their inferiority to laminaria tents due to the softness of tupelo wood, which led to their complete replacement by Hegar dilators.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
TUPELO TENT, a tent made from wood. Tupelo tents are considerably inferior to laminaria tents (see) because tupelo wood is softer than laminaria, and therefore, in cases of a rigid cervix, they prove incapable of stretching the cervix; upon the swollen tupelo, a ring-shaped constriction remains and the tent takes on the shape of an hourglass. The potential need for repeated insertion of tupelo tents into the cervical canal constitutes a weak point of this method of cervical dilation, and therefore tupelo tents are at present completely superseded by Hegar dilators.
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Cite this page
“Tupelo Tent.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/tupelo-tent/