title: Medical treatment of missed abortion using misoprostol.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the efficacy of two routes of misoprostol administration (oral and vaginal) for treatment of missed abortion.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred women with confirmed missed abortion received 800 mcg misoprostol either orally or vaginally. All women returned for follow-up care 2 days later. If the pregnancy was not completely evacuated at this time, women could wait an additional 5 days or undergo immediate surgical completion. Efficacy was defined as the percent of women discharged from the study without need for surgical intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Efficacy was high in both groups and not statistically different (oral=89.0%, vaginal=92.9%). While the groups did not differ in terms of the completion rate by day 2 (oral=41.6%, vaginal=52.7%), the mean time to expulsion was longer (21.04 h) in the oral group than the vaginal group (13.47 h), p=0.041. Women in both groups were highly satisfied with the method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medical management of missed abortion with either oral or vaginal misoprostol is highly effective and highly acceptable.
authors.affiliation: Hung Vuong Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: N T N
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Ngoc
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Westheimer
authors.forename: T T V
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winikoff
mesh_terms: D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000030:Abortion, Missed / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D000282:Administration, Intravaginal; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016595:Misoprostol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal; D016595:Misoprostol