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.