Comparison of Preliminary Clinical Efficacy for Two Cervical Preparations for Early Second-trimester Pregnancy Termination at 12-17 Weeks Gestation

Objective To compare clinical efficacy for two cervical preparations for early secondtrimester pregnancy termination at 12-17 weeks gestation. Methods Seventy healthy women aged 18-41 years requesting legal termination of pregnancy at 12-17 weeks of gestation were equally randomized into two groups. Two cervical preparations, the Dilapan-STM combined with mifepristone and misoprostol （DMM） method, and the mifepristone combined with misoprostol （MM） method, were used to end early second-trimester pregnancy for group DMM and group MM, respectively. Clinical outcomes and complications for these two methods were compared. Results No differences were found on rates of successful abortion within 48 h and blood loss after abortion at 2 h between the two groups （P〉0.05）. DMM group had significant shorter induction-to-abortion interval and hospital stay compared with group MM （P〈0.01）. In both DMM and MM groups, side effects including nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, chills and rigors, and fever occurred, and incidences of these side effects were no difference （P〉0.05）. Conclusion DMM method would have similar clinical efficacies with MM method for early second-trimester pregnancy termination. Besides,DMM method has shorter induction-to-abortion interval and hospital stay, which benefits its clinical application.

Comparison of two misoprostol regimens for cervical priming before surgical pregnancy termination at 13 to 16 weeks gestations

Background: The optimal regimen has still to be determined for the use of misoprostol in the surgical termination of pregnancy in the early second trimester. Objective: To compare the outcomes of two different regimens for cervical priming with misoprostol before dilatation and evacuation (D & E) in 13 weeks - 16 weeks gestation pregnancy terminations. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the medical records of two cohorts of 334 women each who were treated with either 3 sublingual doses of 2 misoprostol 200 μg tablets 30 minutes apart on admission or the same dosage preceded by 1 oral tablet of misoprostol 200 μg at home 3 hours before admission. Results: The addition of the home tablet of misoprostol increased the rate of one day completion of D & E from 97.3% to 100% (P = 0.004), and the overall mean theatre time for D&E was reduced by 12.3% in parous women (P = 0.001) and 6.4% in nulliparous women (P = 0.003) with the reduction being consistent across all gestations. Conclusions: This retrospective study showed that the addition of 1 oral tablet of misoprostol 200 μg at home 3 hours before admission to a regimen of 3 sublingual doses of 2 misoprostol 200 μg tablets 30 minutes apart on admission significantly increases the probability of all women at 13 weeks - 16 weeks gestation completing a termination of pregnancy in one day with a single D & E procedure and with a reduced theatre time.