Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Uterotonics in elective caesarean delivery: a randomised non-inferiority study comparing carbetocin 20 μg and 100 μg.
Postpartum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide and prophylactic uterotonic drug administration after the delivery of the infant is advised. Carbetocin is recommended as an uterotonic, but the minimum effective dose has not been verified. We compared the efficacy of two doses of intravenous carbetocin (20 μg and 100 μg) in women undergoing elective caesarean delivery. ⋯ The mean (SD) uterine tone at 2 min was 7.5 (1.9) in the carbetocin-20 group and 8.0 (1.5) in the carbetocin-100 group. The lower limit of the one-sided 95%CI for the mean difference was outside the non-inferiority margin (at -1.1; p = 0.11) meaning non-inferiority of carbetocin 20 μg compared with carbetocin 100 μg could not be confirmed. However, the secondary outcome measures of uterine tone at 5 min, blood loss and use of additional uterotonics were similar in both groups.