Misoprostol use under routine conditions for termination of pregnancies with intrauterine fetal death

• Autor(a) principal: Nascimento,Maria Isabel do
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Cunha,Alfredo de Almeida, Oliveira,Sandra Regina dos Santos Muri, Nunes,Glaucimara Gonzaga, Alvarez,Felipe Silva, Villas Bôas,Eduardo Loyola
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302013000400014
• topic: Misoprostol; Oxytocin; Labor induced; Delivery obstetric; Fetal death; Stillbirth

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the misoprostol use in pregnancies with intrauterine fetal death (IUFD), considering mode of delivery and induction-delivery interval. METHODS: Descriptive study including 171 pregnant women with IUFD, in the second or third trimester, submitted to labor induction with vaginal misoprostol and/or induction/augmentation with intravenous oxytocin, from 2005 to 2008, at a teaching-hospital of the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde -SUS). RESULTS: Misoprostol alone (treatment A), misoprostol plus oxytocin (treatment B), and oxytocin alone (treatment C) were administered in 9.3%, 19.9%, and 70.8% of the cases, respectively. One-third of pregnancies were less than 28 weeks, and 2.9% required a caesarean section. The percentage of vaginal delivery in treatments A and B combined (98.0%) was similar to treatment C (96.7%). The mean induction-delivery interval was 15.4 hours. Comparing multiple groups, the mean induction-delivery interval was significantly shorter in treatment A (20.1 hours) than in treatment B (33.3 hours), and was longer than in treatment C (9.7 hours). The majority (71%) of cases required a single administration of misoprostol, and the total dosage was lower in treatment A (mean: 98.4 µg) compared with treatment B (mean: 157.0 µg). CONCLUSION: Misoprostol effectively contributed to delivery of IUFD by vaginal route assisted under routine conditions of a public health service in Brazil, demonstrating its importance in cases resistant to usual induction methods, and its availability in Brazilian public health services is recommended.