A medical procedure involving the crushing of the fetal head to facilitate delivery in obstetric emergencies.
From Greek 'kephale' (head) + 'tripsis' (crushing, from 'tribein' to rub or crush). The '-tripsy' suffix is used in medical terminology to describe crushing procedures.
Cephalotripsy represents one of medicine's most ethically fraught procedures—it was sometimes the only way to save a mother's life when the fetus was already dead and stuck, a tragic choice between two deaths that modern obstetrics has made almost completely unnecessary.
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