A Comparison of Oral Prostaglandin E₂ and Intravenous Syntocinon in the Induction of Labour

Summary Prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) was administered by mouth to induce labour in 49 patients. A similar number of matched controls were induced by Syntocinon intravenously. PGE 2 was successful in 47 patients and Syntocinon in 46. There was no significant difference between the two groups for the induction to delivery interval, for the Apgar scores of the babies at one and five minutes, or for the incidence of postpartum haemorrhage. The resting uterine tone, frequency of uterine contractions and incidence of inco‐ordinate uterine activity were, however, all significantly greater in the Syntocinon group. Vomiting and diarrhoea appeared to be more common in the patients induced with PGE 2 but no statistical comparison was possible because these side effects were only specifically recorded in the patients in the PGE 2 series. The greater incidences of pyrexia and acetonuria in the Syntocinon group were not statistically significant.