How to manage unresponsiveness to misoprostol in failed second trimester pregnancy termination.
OBJECTIVE
To present the experience of management of second trimester pregnancy termination by misoprostol after failure to abort within 48 h of its use.


METHODS
A retrospective, cohort descriptive study was carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University Thailand between 1998 and 2010. All women at 14-28 weeks of gestation who failed to abort using misoprostol within 48 h were included. Management of failed pregnancy termination among these women is described here.


RESULTS
Of a total of 680 women undergoing termination of pregnancy, 68 (10%) failed to abort. Mean maternal age was 28.71 years and mean gestational age was 19.91 weeks. Further management after failure included additional administration of misoprostol only (19.1%), modified condom balloon technique only (17.7%), modified condom balloon technique plus other methods (16.1%), while 47.1% needed only oxytocin as necessary. The mean interval between initiation of termination and delivery was 96.97 h.


CONCLUSIONS
Failure of pregnancy termination using misoprostol can be successfully managed by introducing additional misoprostol, modified condom balloon technique and oxytocin infusion. These methods should be considered before proceeding to hysterotomy.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. spongsat@mail.med.cmu.ac.th
Saipin
S
Pongsatha
Theera
T
Tongsong
D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016595:Misoprostol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000020:Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal; D016595:Misoprostol