Second trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly or death: comparing mifepristone/misoprostol to gemeprost

Objective: To assess the effect of changing the regimen for second trimester induction of labour from gemeprost to mifepristone/misoprostol. Design and Setting: A retrospective study at a university teaching hospital over the 5-year period 1993–1997. Subjects, Methods and Regimens: 68 patients, 34 in the gemeprost group and 34 in the mifepristone/misoprostol group. The gemeprost group received 1 mg vaginally every 3 h to a maximum of five doses. The mifepristone/misoprostol group were pre-treated with 600 mg mifepristone orally followed by 800 μg misoprostol vaginally and then 400 μg orally every 3 h to a maximum of four oral doses. Main outcome measures: Induction to abortion interval; delivery within 24 h. Results: The mifepristone/misoprostol group had a lower induction to abortion interval compared to the gemeprost group (median 8.9 h versus 19.8 h, respectively, p