Saima Aziz, Sarah Kazi, Gulfishan Haq, Nargis Soomro.
Oral misoprostol versus oxytocin in the management of third stage of labour.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;64(4):428-32.

Objectives: To compare oral misoprostol versus intramuscular oxytocin in the management of third stage of labour. Methods: The quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit II, Civil Hospital, Karachi, from June 20 to December 19, 2006. A total of 70 patients diagnosed in active phase of labour who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were selected by non-probability convenience sampling. These patients were divided into 2 groups of 35 patients each, for Oxytocin (Group 1) and misoprostol (Group 2) . Main and secondary outcome measures were analysed. SPSS 10 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Average amount of blood loss(ml) was 267.14±140.35 with Oxytocin versus 302.86±160.4, with Misoprostol, this difference was statistically insignificant (p=0.236). Average drop in haemoglobin concentration (g/dl) with Oxytocin was 1.55±0.38 vs 1.66±0.61 with Misoprostol (p=0.684). Drop in haematocrit (%) was 4.18±0.64 with Oxytocin vs. 4.50±0.92 with Misoprostol (p=0.133). There was also insignificant difference in duration of third stage of labour, between oxytocin and Misoprostol groups (5.37±2.20 vs. 5.23±2.46, p=0.451) Shivering, in Misoprostol group occured in n=11 (31.4%) vs n=3 (8.6%) with Oxytocin (p=0.017) and pyrexia in n=6 (17.1%) with misoprostol vs n=0, with oxytocin (p=0.025) thus significantly higher in misoprostol group. Conclusion: There were no major differences in oral misoprostol and intramuscular oxytocin in the management of third stage of labour.

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