The Karman cannula is a soft, flexible
cannula
A cannula (; Latin meaning 'little reed'; plural or ) is a tube that can be inserted into the body, often for the delivery or removal of fluid or for the gathering of samples. In simple terms, a cannula can surround the inner or outer surfaces ...
(or curette) used in medical procedures that was popularized by
Harvey Karman
Harvey Leroy Karman (April 26, 1924 – May 6, 2008) was an American psychologist and the inventor of the Karman cannula, a flexible suction cannula used for early-term abortions.
Karman was born Harvey Walters in Clatskanie, Oregon. His fathe ...
in the early 1970s. The flexibility of the Karman cannula was claimed to reduce the risk of perforating the uterus during
vacuum aspiration
Vacuum or suction aspiration is a procedure that uses a vacuum source to remove an embryo or fetus through the cervix. The procedure is performed to induce abortion, as a treatment for incomplete spontaneous abortion (otherwise commonly known as ...
.
Both Karman's procedure,
menstrual extraction
Menstrual extraction (ME) is a type of manual vacuum aspiration technique developed by feminist activists Lorraine Rothman and Carol Downer to pass the entire menses at once. The non- medicalized technique has been used in small feminist self-h ...
, and his cannula were embraced by activists
Carol Downer and
Lorraine Rothman, who modified the technique in 1971 and promoted it. The "self-help" abortion movement envisioned by Downer and Rothman never entered the mainstream in the U.S. before or after ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
''. Physicians sometimes use a Karman cannula in early induced surgical abortion, in treatment of incomplete abortion, and in endometrial biopsy. In 2010, a Sri Lankan physician named Geeth Silva was the first physician to use the Karman cannula in the removal of impacted faeces from a patient; this was done in Columbo at the
Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital. Physicians and other health care providers sometimes use a Karman cannula in "menstrual regulation" vacuum aspiration procedures in developing countries where abortion is illegal (e.g.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
).
The use of Cannulas in the Aesthetic Industry
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References
Further reading
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External links
Flexible Karman Cannulae (Ipas)
Medical equipment
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