Why the study?
Does intravenous terbutaline arrest premature labor and prolong gestation in women in labor prior to 36 weeks' gestation?
Does intravenous terbutaline arrest premature labor and prolong gestation in women in labor prior to 36 weeks' gestation?
Intravenous terbutaline successfully arrested premature labor in the majority of treated women, prolonging gestation by an average of 3.7 weeks.
May support IV terbutaline for arresting preterm labor; hypothesis-generating case series requiring RCT confirmation before practice change.
Terbutaline was administered to 50 women, all diagnosed as being in labor prior to 36 weeks' gestation. In 47, uterine activity was initially arrested with intravenous therapy. The infusion rate required to arrest uterine activity ranged from 10 to 80 microgram/min and 21 of the 50 patients (42%) required more than one intravenous infusion. The average prolongation of gestation was 3.7 weeks in those successfully treated. Twenty-four delivered within 48 hours after the terbutaline was discontinued. Treatment failures occurred in 11 (22%). Not a single infant died of the respiratory distress syndrome. Side effects were mild and well tolerated.
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Wallace et al. (1978) studied this question.
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