Dr Subha Ranjan¹, Dr A Sarojini², Dr Ipsita Mohapatra³, Dr A Vivekanand⁴, Dr Smruti Ranjan⁵

^1,3Assistant Professor, ²,Professor,⁴Professor & Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana.5Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Wardha.

Address for correspondence: Dr Subha Ranjan, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Email: drsubha2009@gmail.com

Introduction: Termination of pregnancy in second trimester is one of the greatest challenges in modern obstetrics practice and is more risky than during first trimester. Now the main concern of the obstetrician is to provide the most effective, safest, and cost effective regimen with least or no complications.

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness and safety of misoprostol alone and its combination with intracervical Foley’s catheter for second trimester termination of pregnancy.

Material and Methods:100 women of 14-28 weeks of pregnancy were enrolled for termination for any indication and were randomized into two groups. Group I (study group): received 200 mcg of misoprostol 6 hourly and intracervical Foley’s catheter. Group II (control group): received only 200 mcg of misoprostol 6 hourly, upto a maximum five doses. The outcomes are measured in terms of success rate of abortion within 48 hours, induction to delivery interval and maternal side effects

Results: The induction to abortion interval was 13.84±5.37 hours in the combined group compared to 22.68±4.82 hours in the misoprostol group (P value<0.001) with success rate of 90% in the combined group and no major complications reported.

Conclusion: Use of intracervical Foley’s catheter improves the efficacy of vaginal misoprostol for termination of midtrimester pregnancy with shorter induction to delivery interval with no significant increase in side effects.

Keywords :Foley’s catheter, misoprostol, second trimester pregnancy termination