A Pilot Study of Priming Before Induction Termination of Pregnancy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Induction termination of pregnancy (second trimester abortion) has a median time of 14 hours
from the start of medication (misoprostol) to expulsion of the fetus. The objective of this
study is to evaluate a method of 'priming' on the length of induction termination of
pregnancy. "Priming" refers to the use of medication to ready the cervix and uterus so that
the uterus is more sensitive to medication and contracts more effectively, and also refers to
softening of the cervix so that there is less resistance to dilation. Priming is used
extensively before induction of labor for term pregnancy and is also used extensively before
surgical abortion in second trimester. We would like to add priming the evening before
induction to the usual treatment and evaluate whether the length of the induction process is
shortened. Women are admitted to the hospital in the morning to start misoprostol medication,
and unless expulsion occurs within 8-10 hours, need to stay overnight.
The study design is to give the priming dose 12 hours before admission. The outcome of
interest is the induction time from the first dose on misoprostol in the hospital to
expulsion of the fetus.
This study aims to assess whether the use of misoprostol as a priming agent would be
beneficial with women who undergo induction termination of pregnancy.