Efficacy of second-trimester termination procedure; medical, mechanic, or combine?

Objectives: During mid-trimester, it is necessary to terminate pregnancy due to some fetal anomalies and intrauterine death. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to compare abortion induction methods and combined use retrospectively.

Methods: About 112 out of 223 pregnant patients were included in the study. The groups were determined as follows: Group 1 including pregnant patients who were administered misoprostol only (50 patients), Group 2 including pregnant patients who were administered single dose misoprostol (according to FIGO) and subsequently received cervical Foley catheter (30 patients), and Group 3 including pregnant patients who received Foley catheter only (32 patients). These three groups were compared in terms of effectiveness of the method, side effects, and complications as well as their characteristics.

Results: In terms of characteristic of the groups, the average age of the women in the Group 1 was significantly higher than other two groups (p < 0.001). In terms of effectiveness of the method, the termination period in Groups 1 and 2 was significantly lower than Group 3 (p < 0.001). However, in terms of complications, it was observed that uterine rupture was developed in Group 1.

Conclusions: Although medical methods may seem to be more effective in the process of termination, mechanical methods seem more reliable in terms of reliability. Especially combined methods can be used to increase effectiveness and also to reduce complications.