• P Kamali, M Hohmann, J Herrero, and W Künzel.
• Universitäts-Frauenklinik Giessen.
• Zentralbl Gynakol. 1998 Jan 1; 120 (6): 293-300.

AbstractIn a randomized, prospective study at the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University Hospital of Giessen 4 different ways of inducing abortions with prostaglandins were tested between the 15th and 24th week of gestation. The aim of the study was to determine the best approach to inducing abortion in order to minimize the psychological and physical stress to the patient. Subjects randomized to the first two groups got a single cervical installation of either 0.5 mg Dinoprostongel (Prepidil, N = 22) or 0.5 mg Sulprostongel (Nalador, N = 21). Six hours later, i.v. infusion with Sulproston (8.3 micrograms/min) was started and continued until the abortion was complete. Patients randomized to the third and fourth group received either 0.5 mg Dinoprostongel intracervically (N = 15) or 1 mg Gemeprost vaginal suppositories (Cergem, N = 21) every 6 hours until the cervix was 1-2 cm dilated. Subsequently the patients received an i.v. infusion with Sulproston until the abortion was complete. In the first group with intracervical application of Sulproston the total time until abortion was 17.8 h +/- 7.8 h. This was shorter than following a single application of Dinoprostongel (22.5 h +/- 14.7 h). Although there was a five hours difference, the between-group differences were not statistically different because of a wide range in values following Dinoproston treatment. This range could not be explained by the age of the mother, week of gestation or parity. In the group receiving multiple intracervical applications of Dinoproston the time till expulsion was twice as long as that after multiple vaginal suppositories of Gemeprost (33.8 h +/- 13.9 h vs. 15.6 +/- 6.0 h, p < 0.01). The time span until a cervical dilatation of 1-2 cm was 27.0 h +/- 13.7 h in the group with repeated Dinoproston application. This period of time was more than twice the time span seen in the group with repeated Gemeprost application (12.5 h +/- 4.2 h, p < 0.01). On the average four treatments with intracervical Dinoprostongel were required while the average with Gemeprost vaginal suppositories was two to achieve a cervical dilatation of 1-2 cm. Furthermore in 7 of 21 cases treatment with Gemeprost achieved the expulsion of the fetus without Sulproston infusion (11.4 h +/- 5.2 h). Comparing single versus repetitive prostaglandin application we could demonstrate that the duration of Sulproston infusion was cut in half after repeated therapy with Gemeprost. We conclude that repetitive application of Gemeprost vaginal suppositories decreases the time to abortion and subject discomfort tremendously. The application of Gemeprost suppositories provides the easiest and most efficient therapeutic approach for both patients and staff. Furthermore the regiment that provided the best results was also the most cost-effective (range 180,-DM to 317,- DM per case).

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