Methotrexate and Misoprostol against Misoprostol Alone for Early Medical Abortion: Comparative Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Obstetric and Gynecology Department. Faculty of medicine, Alexandria University. Egypt

Abstract

Background: Vaginal mifepristone oral misoprostol have proven to be highly effective medical
abortion methods and are used widely in in modern countries.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy for two medical abortion regimens
used in one clinic setting misoprostol alone, intramuscular methotrexate and vaginal misoprostol.
Methods: An intervention study was conducted on a total of 100 randomly selected women with
gestations of first-trimester pregnancy, who sought a missed abortion. Study population was assigned
as two groups, the first was subjected to vaginal administration of Misoprostol and the second was
subjected to IM injection of methotrexate and self-administration of vaginal misoprostol After 72h.
All patients were followed up for recording any side effects of the drugs, progress of abortion & if
there was any need for surgical interference [manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) or dilatation and
curettage
Results: Success rate of the methotrexate regimen was 80% and did not differ significantly from the
misoprostol regimen that had success rate of 84%.
Conclusions: In this real-use setting, the use of misoprostol in combination with methotrexate or
alone for the missed abortion termination are both safe and effective methods without serious side
effects.

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