Cervical Ripening: Comparative Study between Intracervical Balooning by Foley s Catheter and Intravaginal Misoprostol Tablet

This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of misoprostol and Foley’s catheter on cervical ripening. A randomized clinical trial was carried out at Dhaka Medical College Hospital during the period from March 2002 to November 2002. Ninety patients, who were chosen for induction, were selected for this study, 45 patients were randomly selected for Foley’s catheter group and 45 patients for misoprostol group by using lottery. The baseline characteristics like age, parity, socioeconomic condition, gestational age; Bishop’s score and indication of induction of labor were almost same in both groups. Mean duration of onset of labour was 13.60±5.0 and 15.26±3.58 hours, induction-full dilatation was 18.83±2.94 and 20.03±2.46 hours and induction-delivery interval was 20.04±2.82 and 21.18±2.32 hours in the misoprostol and Foley’s catheter groups respectively. The differences were not significant. Mode of delivery and fetal outcome were also same in both group. Complications like vomiting and hyperstimulation appeared in few cases in misoprostol group but not significant. From this study, it was found that the safety and efficacy of Foley’s catheter is comparable to misoprostol. In addition, Foley’s catheter is free from some side effects of misoprostol, like vomiting and hyperstimulation. Therefore, Foley’s catheter can be used for cervical ripening.