[Cervical ripening : comparison of three methods. Preliminary results of a randomized prospective study]

The authors report the preliminary results of a randomised prospective study begun in April 1992 at the maternity unit of the Caen Regional Hospital group. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of three methods of cervical ripening in patients at term in whom there was an indication for the induction of labour while local conditions were unfavourable (Bishop score less than 6). In the first group, patients received an intracervical instillation of prostaglandins E2 (Prepidil), in accordance with the usual method of the department. In the patients of the second group, an intracervical Foley catheter with its balloon inflated to 50 cc was inserted and left under traction for 12 hours. Management of patients in the third group consisted of an extraamniotic injection of prostaglandins E2 via a Foley catheter previously inserted into the cervix and the balloon of which was also inflated with 50 cc of sterile water and which was left in place for 12 hours. Regardless of the method, each patient could undergo 3 ripening procedures separated by 24 hour intervals, provided the Bishop score did not reach 6. These results, which concern the first 184 patients enrolled in the protocol show the superior efficacy of the catheter + Prepidil method as compared with the other two (75% success rate after ripening as compared with 50% in each of the other two groups) as well as that intracervical Prepidil is equally effective in terms of success/failure as an intracervical catheter alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)