A pilot study of mifepristone and misoprostol administered at the same time for abortion in women with gestation from 50 to 63 days

Introduction: In the interest of decreasing the amount of time it takes to achieve a medical abortion, we performed a pilot study to evaluate the simultaneous administration of mifepristone and vaginal misoprostol for women with gestation from 50 to 63 days. Materials and Methods: Forty women were enrolled with undesired pregnancies from 50 to 56 days' gestation (group 1) and 40 from 57 to 63 days' gestation (group 2). All women used misoprostol 800 mu g vaginally immediately after having swallowed the 200 mg mifepristone tablet. Follow-up evaluations with transvaginal ultrasonography occurred at 24 h and 2 weeks after treatment. Results: The 24-h expulsion rates were 88% (95% CI, 77-98) and 83% (95% CI, 7-94) in groups 1 and 2, respectively. The complete abortion rates at 2 weeks were 93% (95% CI, 84-100) and 90% (95% CI, 81-99), respectively. Discussion: Simultaneous administration of oral mifepristone and vaginal misoprostol provides 24-h expulsion rates in women with gestation from 50 to 63 days, comparable to those reported in the medical literature for standard treatment regimens. Further study of this regimen in a large randomized trial is warranted. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.