Study and Compare the Effect of Low Dose Versus Standard Pritchard Regimen of Magnesium Sulphate on Maternal and Perinatal Outcome in Antepartum Group of Eclampsia: A RCT

Background- Eclampsia is a well-known complication of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. It's a common cause of maternal death in countries like India. Magnesium sulphate is the anticonvulsant of choice and can be administered by either intramuscular or intravenous route. The Pritchard regimen has been formulated as per women of western countries for intramuscular administration.. The Indian women on the contrary have low BMI & hence are at a greater risk of toxicity of magnesium sulphate Methodology- The study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital from October 2015 to September 2016 in Purulia on 86 eclamptic mothers who were randomized into two groups. Group 'A'(low dose group: A loading dose of 3gm of magnesium sulphate intravenously plus 5 gm intramuscularly 2.5 gm in each buttock followed by maintenance dose of 5gm i.m. [ 2. 5 gm i.m. alternate buttock] every four hours) or Group' B'(standard Pritchard regimen: loading dose of 4gm iv plus 10 gm i.m [5 gm.in each buttock] followed by maintenance dose of 10gm i.m [5 gm in alternate buttock] for every four hours .Toxicity was monitored clinically before administering maintenance dose of Magnesium Sulphate. Data was analyzed and entered in Microsoft Excel. Results- 90% of patients were primigravidas in low dose group and 83.72% patients in standard dose group..80.23 % had 1 to 3 convulsions. Recurrence of convulsion the primary outcome of our study was observed in 4.65% in low dose group as compared to 6.98% in standard Pritchard regimen group. Perinatal mortality was 25.58 % in the low dose group and 34.88% in the standard dose group. Conclusion- Low dose regimen has comparable efcacy in convulsion control in women with eclampsia.