The relative value of two concentrations of hypertonic saline for midtrimester abortion

A study was conducted in Calcutta, India, to evaluate and compare the safety and effectiveness of the intraamniotic instillation of 5% and 20% saline in 359 women undergoing midtrimester pregnancy termination. The two abortion techniques were randomly assigned to the study patients. The incidence of method failures in the 5% (9.4%) and 20% (7.2%) saline groups was not significantly different (p less than 0.05), nor was the incidence of incomplete abortion rates for the two groups significantly different (p less than 0.05). At 24 hours or less, the abortion rates were significantly higher (p less than 0.05) for women receiving the 20% saline, but at 36 and 48 hours there was no significant difference (p less than 0.05). The mean induction-to-abortion interval was higher for the 5% (30.1 hours) than for the 20% (28.8 hours) saline cases, but this was not significantly significant. The incidences of excessive blood loss and fever were significantly higher (p less than 0.05) for patients receiving the 5% than for those receiving the 20% saline. There were five (2.4%) deaths among the 20% and one death (0.7%) among the 5% saline groups.