Very early abortion by prostaglandins.

309 women whose menstruation was delayed by 3-35 days were treated with intrauterine or vaginal prostaglandins. Of 275 confirmed pregnancies, 229 were successfully terminated without further abortifacient therapy. A successful outcome was often associated with episodes of vomiting, diarrhoea, and uterine cramps in the 24 hours after prostaglandin administration, but the incidence was related to prostaglandin dosage and gastrointestinal side-effects were more common after vaginal administration. The best results were achieved by the analogue 16:16 dimethyl P.G.E2 as a vaginal pessary. 14 patients (6.1%) required uterine curettage for escessive or prolonged bleeding, while 2 patients required blood transfusion. One patient, who had an intrauterine contraceptive device left in situ during treatment, developed acute pelvic sepsis. No deleterious side-effects occurred in 34 patients who were subsequently proven not to be pregnant at the time of treatment. Treatment by intrauterine or vaginal prostaglandins offers promise as a method of pregnancy termination which avoids much of the physical and emotional trauma associated with surgical termination, and has the advantage of not requiring hospital admission in the majority of cases. The present study shows the safety of the method, and its potential as a self-administration technique.