Clinical study on misoprostol for prevention of postpartum hemorrhage

Objective To investigate the effect of misoprostol on prevention of postpartum hemorrhage. Methods A retrospective study was carried out for 1 600 normal parturients,who were divided into study group(n=800)and control group(n=800). For the study group,600 μg of misoprostol was given orally after delivery of fetal head at the end of the second stage. For the control group,20U oxytocin was injected intravenously at the same time point. The amount of bleeding within 2 hours postpartum was measured. The occurrences of postpartum hemorrhage,asphyxia of neonatal and blood pressure change between pre- and post-treatment were compared. Results The mean amount of bleeding of the study group was 168.45±60.56 ml,which was higher than 188.75±95.32 ml of the control group(P0.01). The occurrence of postpartum hemorrhage in study group(1.25%)was lower than control group(3.75%,P0.01). There was no statistical difference of asphyxia of neonatal or blood pressure change between the two groups. Conclusions Misoprostol is more effective than oxytocin in controlling postpartum bleeding. Furthermore,Misoprostol is easy to deliver and suitable for widely applying.