A review study conducted on a popular anti-ulcer pill used worldwide for inducing labor and preventing post-delivery bleeding reveals that it is equally effective as the other expensive drugs. Researchers have however urged that the drug must be used with caution.
The pill – a prostaglandin known generically as misoprostol and sold as Cytotec – is used primarily for treatment of peptic ulcers and is not approved for use in pregnant woman in most countries, including the United States. However, because of the convenience of oral dosing compared to standard vaginal or cervical treatments to speed delivery, 'off-label' use is common in many countries.'Due to the limited evidence about the safety, oral misoprostol should be used with caution for the induction of labor,' said authors Dr. Zarko Alfirevic and Dr. Andrew Weeks, both obstetricians at England's University of Liverpool.
Legal liability, as well as safety concerns, make use of misoprostol problematic 'because of a relatively high rate of uterine hyperstimulation and the lack of appropriate dose ranging studies,' they said.
However, the authors acknowledged that other approved drugs are expensive and must be refrigerated, whereas misoprostol is relatively cheap and can be stored at room temperature. Off-label use is thus especially attractive in developing countries and is likely to continue.
'In those situations, clinicians should use as low a dose as possible and report serious adverse outcomes,' say the authors. They recommend a maximum dose of 50 mcg. Higher doses could lead to tearing of the uterus, which could be life-threatening to both mother and fetus.
The history of misoprostol use for induction of labor in full-term pregnancies has been complicated by the fact that the drug is also used for termination of first-trimester pregnancies, routinely used in combination with RU-486, the so-called 'morning after' abortion pill.
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Nigeria this month became the latest country to approve its use to induce labor, a procedure recommended when carrying a pregnancy is riskier than giving birth.
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Although the authors found no evidence of serious problems among the participants, Alfirevic warned that 'much more data are needed before we can be confident that there are really no adverse fetal effects that can be attributed to misoprostol.' To address the risks of rare adverse outcomes, studies would need to include in excess of 30,000 women, the authors said.
Use of oral misoprostol by American obstetricians is likely to remain relatively stable for the foreseeable future, predicts Dr. Deborah Wing, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine at the University of California, Irvine. 'Because of the highly litigious nature of medical practice in the United States, there are practitioners that have grave concern about the use of the medication without FDA labeling.'
Still, Wing envisions a day when, in appropriate circumstances, a safe and effective regimen of oral misoprostol can be prescribed on an outpatient basis around a woman’s due date. 'What woman wouldn’t want to be able to take a pill to control when she went into labor?' she asks. 'But we’re a long way away from that.'
The review itself noted that 'most studies … did not assess women’s views or satisfaction rates' regarding induced labor versus possible safety risks.
