16 Termination of second.pmd

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen Alia Military Hospital, Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan (Correspondence to M.I. Al-Taani: [email protected]). ABSTRACT To assess the effectiveness of intravaginal misoprostol for second trimester uterine evacuation, we studied 70 women with singleton pregnancies complicated by fetal malformation or dead fetuses. Participants received 200 μg misoprostol administered at 4-hour intervals. Gestations with dead fetuses had a shorter induction–abortion interval [14.2 hours, standard deviation (SD) 4.3] than those with live, malformed fetuses (20.2 hours, SD 7.3) (P < 0.001). The abortion rate was significantly higher for gestations with dead fetuses (92.1%) than those with live, malformed fetuses (68.8%) (P < 0.05). There were no major complications and no significant difference in the incidence of side-effects. All women aborted within 38 hours. Administration of misoprostol is an effective clinical method to terminate second trimester, complicated pregnancy.