ABSTRACT
A randomised controlled study of the clinical value of single insertion of vaginal tablets of prostagladin E2 (PGE2) containing 3mg of dinoprostin for induction of labour in patients with Low Bishop Scores (B/S less than 5) was carried out on 20 singleton pregnant Nigerian women, of different parity. (Primiparae n = 10 Multiparae n = 10). The control were 10 singleton pregnant women (Primiparae 3; Multiparae 7). The mean age of the subjects were 28.4 +/- 1.5 years and 29.8 +/- 0.9 years for the control and the PGE2 treatment groups respectively. The indications for induction of labour were Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH); Post-maturity, Intra-uterine foetal death IUD, spontaneous rupture of membrane, diabetes mellitus in pregnancy and intra uterine growth retardation syndrome (IUGR). A single insertion of PGE2 vaginal tablet significantly improved the Bishop Score in the PGE2 treatment group from a mean of 4.0 to 10.5 +/- 0.4, after a mean interval of 8.7 +/- 1.1 hrs. This reduction in the IDI by the PGE2 in the treatment group was however more significant in the multiparae (Mean IDI 7.25 +/- 1.8 hrs; P = 0.02) than the primiparae (Mean IDI 11.1 +/- 2.3 hrs; p > or = 0.05). It is suggested that a single insertion of PGE2 vaginal tablet is effective for induction of labour in the multiparae in cases of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH), Post-maturity; and intra-uterine fetal death (IUD) but similar procedure may not be so effective in the primiparae.
