THURSDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- In women who develop excess bleeding after childbirth, treatment with sublingual misoprostol may be a viable alternative to treatment with intravenous oxytocin, according to two studies published online Jan. 7 in The Lancet.
Beverly Winikoff, M.D., of Gynuity Health Projects in New York City, and colleagues randomly assigned 9,348 women not exposed to prophylactic oxytocin to receive either 800 µg of sublingual misoprostol or 40 IU of intravenous oxytocin. They found that control of active bleeding within 20 minutes was similar in both groups (90 and 96 percent, respectively) but that additional blood loss of 300 mL or more was more common in the misoprostol group (30 versus 17 percent).
Jennifer Blum, also of Gynuity Health Projects in New York City, and colleagues randomly assigned 809 women exposed to prophylactic oxytocin to receive either 800 µg of sublingual misoprostol or 40 IU of intravenous oxytocin. They found that control of active bleeding within 20 minutes was similar in both groups (89 and 90 percent, respectively) and also observed similar rates of additional blood loss of 300 mL or more (34 and 31 percent, respectively).
"Future research should investigate the effectiveness of treatment for postpartum hemorrhage with misoprostol when introduced widely into clinical practice at secondary and primary health care facilities and, importantly, after misoprostol prophylaxis has been administered," write the authors of the second study. "Clinical research examining whether a lower treatment dose shows similar effectiveness with fewer undesirable side-effects would also be useful."
Abstract - Winikoff
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Abstract - Blum
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