THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTRAVAGINAL MISOPROSTOL (CYTOTEC) IN INDUCING ABORTION AFTER 11 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY

At Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique, intravaginal misoprostol, a PGE2 methylanalogue, was used by 169 women whose request for interrupt ion of pregnancy had been approved. The drug was used by women who had completed between 12 and 23 weeks of gestation. The initial dose was 800 micrograms, repeated 24 hours later if abortion had not occurred o r was not in progress. The treatment was considered a failure when abo rtion was not advanced by 48 hours after the initial dose, and curetta ge was performed in all but one of such cases. During the course of th e study, the dosage was successively reduced to 600,400, and 200 micro grams. Abortion was successfully induced in 154 women (91.1 percent); there were 10 failures (5.9 percent), and five women (3.0 percent) dro pped out of the study. The mean time from initial dose to abortion was 143 hours. No significant association of success rate and time from d osage to expulsion was found with age, parity, previous abortion, or g estational age. Preventive vacuum aspiration of the uterine cavity was carried out on all subjects.