A surgical procedure involving cutting or breaking the collarbone, historically used in childbirth to reduce pelvic size.
From Greek kleis (collarbone) plus -tomy (a suffix meaning 'cutting'). Rare medical term from 'tome' meaning to cut, used for surgery on the clavicle.
This is an actual historical obstetric surgery that was sometimes performed to make the birth canal seem smaller—it's a dark reminder of how desperately doctors tried to solve childbirth problems before anesthesia and modern medicine existed.
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