Induction of abortion by condom-Foley catheter method in pregnant women with intra-uterine foetal death.

To induce abortion in women with intra-uterine foetal death (IUFD), during a two-year period (August 1990 to October 1992), at Yekatit 12 Hospital, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, condom-Foley catheter method (CFCM) with oxytocin, and oxytocin infusion alone were compared. All 25 pregnant women randomly assigned to the CFCM aborted within 24 hr, a 100% success rate with an induction-abortion time interval of 14.6 hr (p < 0.001), whereas among 20 patients who were treated with oxytocin infusion alone, induction failed in all. Repeated induction in the second group resulted in a marked delay of abortion; these patients were crossed over to either combined medical and surgical induction or to the CFCM depending on their cervical status. The rapid cervical dilatation and safe abortion in pregnant women with IUFD make the CFCM a superior procedure to induction of abortion with oxytocin infusion alone. In places where there is no experience with the use of prostaglandins and the agent, which may have undesirable side-effects, is unavailable, the CFCM is a simple cost-effective technique which could be used safely.