Human Reproduction, Vol. 13, No. 10, 2962-2965,
October 1998
© 1998 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
An effective regimen for early medical abortion: a report of 2000 consecutive cases
1 Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZL, UK 2 Grampian Healthcare NHS Trust, Family Planning Clinic, 13 Golden Square, Aberdeen AB10 1RH, UK
Correspondence: To whom correspondence should be addressed
A combination of the anti-progesterone mifepristone and gemeprost provides an effective non-surgical method for the induction of abortion at gestations up to 63 days, achieving complete abortion rates of over 95%. We report our experience with an alternate regimen, comprising a reduced dose of mifepristone in combination with vaginal misoprostol. A consecutive series of 2000 women requesting early medical abortion at gestations up to 63 days was studied retrospectively. Each woman received mifepristone 200 mg orally, followed 36–48 h later by misoprostol 800 µg vaginally. Of the 2000 women, 39 (2.0%) aborted completely following administration of mifepristone alone and a further 1912 experienced complete abortion following administration of misoprostol (a complete abortion rate of 97.5%). Surgical intervention was required in 49 women (2.5%): for incomplete abortion in 27 (1.4%), for missed abortion in seven (0.4%), for continuing pregnancy in 11 (0.6%) and to exclude ectopic pregnancy in four (0.2%). The surgical intervention rate was significantly higher among women at gestations 
49 days than among those at 
49 days (3.3 versus 1.5%, P = 0.0193). The regimen appears as effective, in terms of high complete abortion rate and low continuing pregnancy rate, as any published alternative. This regimen has the benefit of being less costly as the dose of mifepristone is 67% lower and misoprostol is substantially less expensive than gemeprost. Additionally, misoprostol does not require special transport or storage requirements. As such, the combination of mifepristone and gemeprost.
Key words: induced abortion/mifepristone/misoprostol
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