Assessment of Efficacy of Misoprostol as an Inducing Agent: An Observational Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Labor induction is one of the most frequentprocedures in obstetrics. Several Meta analyses, systematicreviews and randomised controlled trials have assessed thesafety and efficacy of misoprostol as a cervical ripening andinducing agent and have come out with varied opinions.Hence; the present study was undertaken for assessing theefficacy of misoprostol as an inducing agent.Materials & Methods: A total of 30 women were enrolled inthe present study. Only those subjects were enrolled whorequired induction of labour. Clinical examination of all thepatients was carried out and detailed clinical history wasobtained. This was followed by a thorough obstetricexamination. All the subjects received misoprostol tablet 25µgevery 4 hourly intravaginally upto a maximum of 5 doses.Intravenous Oxytocin was administered as and when required.Cases in which the subject failed to enter the active phase oflabour after 24 hours of starting of induction were regarded asfailure of induction.Results: The most common indication of labour induction waspost-dated pregnancy with 11 subjects (36.66%) in themisoprostol group being of post-dated pregnancy. The nextmost common indication for labor induction was Pregnancyinduced hypertension. Fourteen women in the Misoprostolgroup delivered in less than 12 hours. Thus, the vaginaldelivery rates within 12 hours were 66.67% in the Misoprostolgroup. The mean induction to delivery interval in themisoprostol group was 10.40 hours.Conclusion: Misoprostol is an effective method of induction oflabour and is a well-tolerated drug.