Prenatal exposure to misoprostol and vascular disruption defects: A case-control study

Prenatal exposure to misoprostol has been associated with Moebius and limb defects. Vascular disruption has been proposed as the mechanism for these t eratogenic effects. The present study is a multicenter, case-control study that was designed to compare the frequency of prenatal misoprostol use betw een mothers of Brazilian children diagnosed with vascular disruption defect s and matched control mothers of children diagnosed with other types of def ects. A total of 93 cases and 279 controls were recruited in eight particip ating centers, Prenatal exposure was identified in 32 infants diagnosed wit h vascular disruption defects (34.4%) compared with only 12 (4.3%) in the c ontrol group (P < 0.0000001). Our data suggest that prenatal exposure to mi soprostol is associated to the occurrence of vascular disruption defects in the newborns, 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.