MIDTRIMESTER TERMINATION OF COMPLICATED PREGNANCY WITH ORAL MISOPROSTOL

To define the mean effective dose of oral misoprostol, a PGE(2) methyl analogue, for terminating midtrimester complicated pregnancy without p roducing significant side-effects and complications, forty-two patient s with intrauterine complicated pregnancies of 14-28 weeks were treate d with oral misoprostol. All patients were observed after the initial dose (200 mu g). If there was no contraction of the uterus or no vagin al bleeding, a supplementary dose of 200 mu g misoprostol was given on ce each hour, with an average total dose of 1000 mu g being given (min . 200 mu g, max. 1200 mu g). Abortion was successfully induced in 39 w omen (92.9%); there were 3 failures (7.1%). The mean time from initial dose to abortion was 9 h. No important side-effects or complications were noted. This study demonstrated that the use of oral misoprostol i s a simple, inexpensive and easy procedure for termination of second t rimester complicated pregnancy.