Midtrimester abortion: a comparison of intraamniotic prostaglandin F2alpha and hypertonic saline

The safety and effectiveness of two intraamniotic prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) dose schedules (a single 50 mg dose and a repeated 25 mg dose) and intraamniotic hypertonic saline were evaluated in a study where each abortion procedure was randomly assigned to 50 patients. All patients were at 16 to 20 weeks' gestation. Rates of gastrointestinal and other side effects were generally higher for the 50 mg PGF2alpha dose schedule than for the other two procedures. The repeated 25 mg PGF2alpha dose schedule resulted in higher 24-hour (68.0%) and 48-hour (98.0%) cumulative abortion rates than the 50 mg PGF2alpha dose schedule (54.0%, 92.0%) or saline (34.7%, 91.8%). Rates of spontaneous placental expulsion were highest for the repeated 25 mg PGF2alpha dose (74.0%) and lowest for the 50 mg PGF2alpha dose schedule (40.0%).