Human Reproduction, Vol. 17, No. 3, 654-658,
March 2002
© 2002 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Pilot study on the use of repeated doses of sublingual misoprostol in termination of pregnancy up to 12 weeks gestation: efficacy and acceptability
1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China
BACKGROUND: A sublingual misoprostol-alone regimen was used in 50 women requesting medical abortion at up to 12 weeks gestation. The efficacy and acceptability of this regimen were studied. METHODS: The women were given 600 µg misoprostol sublingually every 3 h for a maximum of 5 doses. RESULTS: The overall complete abortion rate was 86% (95% confidence interval: 74–93). The mean number of doses of misoprostol required was 4.1 ± 1.1. There was no significant change in haemoglobin concentration and the median duration of vaginal bleeding was 15 days (range: 7–56). Diarrhoea, fever and chills were the most common side-effects. The acceptability of this regimen of misoprostol was good: 97.7% of the women who had a complete abortion would choose this method again and 88.4% would recommend it to others. They preferred sublingual misoprostol as it is convenient to take, avoids the painful vaginal administration and gives more privacy during the abortion process. CONCLUSION: This regimen of sublingual misoprostol is an effective and acceptable method of medical abortion. Randomized controlled trials are required to compare the efficacy of various misoprostol-alone regimens of medical abortion. Pharmacokinetic studies and clinical trials are needed to find out the most appropriate dose, dosing interval and route of administration of misoprostol.
Key words: medical abortion/misoprostol/sublingual
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: 6/F, Professorial Block, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, 102, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China. E-mail: ostang{at}graduate.hku.hk
Submitted on May 18, 2001; resubmitted on October 9, 2001
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