The Demand for Pregnancy Testing: The Aschheim--Zondek Reaction, Diagnostic Versatility, and Laboratory Services in 1930s Britain (2014)
Olszynko-Gryn, Jesse (Author)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 47, Part B
Issue: Part B
Pages: 233-247
Edition Details: First article in a special issue, “Transforming Pregnancy Since 1900”
Language: English
The Aschheim--Zondek reaction is generally regarded as the first reliable hormone test for pregnancy and as a major product of the `heroic age' of reproductive endocrinology. Invented in Berlin in the late 1920s, by the mid 1930s a diagnostic laboratory in Edinburgh was performing thousands of tests every year for doctors around Britain. In her classic history of antenatal care, sociologist Ann Oakley claimed that the Aschheim--Zondek test launched a `modern era' of obstetric knowledge, which asserted its superiority over that of pregnant women. This article reconsiders Oakley's claim by examining how pregnancy testing worked in practice. It explains the British adoption of the test in terms less of the medicalisation of pregnancy than of clinicians' increasing general reliance on laboratory services for differential diagnosis. Crucially, the Aschheim--Zondek reaction was a test not directly for the fetus, but for placental tissue. It was used, less as a yes-or-no test for ordinary pregnancy, than as a versatile diagnostic tool for the early detection of malignant tumours and hormonal deficiencies believed to cause miscarriage. This test was as much a product of oncology and the little-explored world of laboratory services as of reproductive medicine.
...MoreDescription Contents:
Article Davis, Angela (2014) Wartime Women Giving Birth: Narratives of Pregnancy and Childbirth, Britain c. 1939--1960. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 257-266).
Article Elliot, Rosemary (2014) Miscarriage, Abortion or Criminal Feticide: Understandings of Early Pregnancy Loss in Britain, 1900--1950. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 248-256).
Article Buklijas, Tatjana (2014) Food, Growth and Time: Elsie Widdowson's and Robert Mccance's Research into Prenatal and Early Postnatal Growth. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 267-277).
Article Al-Gailani, Salim (2014) Making Birth Defects “Preventable”: Pre-Conceptional Vitamin Supplements and the Politics of Risk Reduction. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 278-289).
Article Löwy, Ilana (2014) Prenatal Diagnosis: The Irresistible Rise of the “Visible Fetus”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 290-299).
Article Martin, Aryn; Holloway, Kelly (2014) “Something There Is That Doesn't Love a Wall”: Histories of the Placental Barrier. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (pp. 300-310).
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