Methotrexate and Misoprostol against Misoprostol Alone for Early Medical Abortion: Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Vaginal mifepristone oral misoprostol have proven to be highly effective medical abortion methods and are used widely in in modern countries. Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy for two medical abortion regimens used in one clinic setting misoprostol alone, intramuscular methotrexate and vaginal misoprostol. Methods: An intervention study was conducted on a total of 100 randomly selected women with gestations of first-trimester pregnancy, who sought a missed abortion. Study population was assigned as two groups, the first was subjected to vaginal administration of Misoprostol and the second was subjected to IM injection of methotrexate and self-administration of vaginal misoprostol After 72h. All patients were followed up for recording any side effects of the drugs, progress of abortion & if there was any need for surgical interference [manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) or dilatation and curettage Results: Success rate of the methotrexate regimen was 80% and did not differ significantly from the misoprostol regimen that had success rate of 84%. Conclusions: In this real-use setting, the use of misoprostol in combination with methotrexate or alone for the missed abortion termination are both safe and effective methods without serious side effects.

Keywords

• methotrexate
• misoprostol
• pregnancy
• abortion