[Therapeutic interruption of pregnancy in the second trimester after preparation of the cervix with prostaglandins F2 alpha].

The use of prostaglandins is one of the best techniques for second trimester abortion. The authors present 40 patients aborted by a new two stage technique: First: ripening of the cervix a tylose gel containing 5 or 10 mg PGF2 alpha every 12 hours during 3 days. Then, if abortion is not obtained, previously published techniques are used: intra-amniotic injection (40 mg PGF2 alpha) or intra-cervical infusion (2 mg/hour). The mean duration of these abortions is 52 hours using 29 mg of PGF2 alpha. 22 patients aborted during ripening (mean = 27 hours), 12 patients needed an intracervical infusion (mean = 88 hours) and 6, an intra-amniotic injection (mean = 72 hours). It seems that abortion is easier when pregnancy is earlier, under 20 weeks of gestation. Few side effects were observed: only three cases of fever with a single case of endometritis. Failure of this technique occurred in five patients (4 aborted outside the time allowed for, and one needed instrumental extraction). With this technique, the mean duration is longer than those previously described in the literature but the efficiency is over 90%.