[A further clinical study of termination of early pregnancy by administration of long-acting dl-15-methyl-prostaglandin F2 alpha in combination with testosterone propionate (II)].

PIP: 60 cases of early pregnancy with periods of amenorrhea 49 days or less counted from the last menses were terminated by use of longacting dl-methyl-prostaglandin F2alpha (15-me-PGF2alpha) in combination with testosterone propionate (TP) and divided into 2 study groups at random. The procedure was to use 2 15-me-PGF2alpha sponges (4 mg each) in the vaginal vault at an interval of 4 hours, followed by an intramuscular injection of 2 mg 15-me-PGF2alpha 4 hours in group 1. The only difference in the treatment of group 2 was the reduction of the 15-me PGF2alpha sponge dosage to 3 mg each. The maximum dosage of 15-me-PGF2alpha was limited to 10 mg in group 1 and 8 mg in group 2. The complete courses in both groups was not more than 8 hours, a period that was shorter by 4 hours than with the previous study. Besides this, a dose of 100 mg TP was injected intramusculary daily for 3 days to the PG administration. The success rates for the 2 groups were 96.7% and 100% (P0.05). The mean dosage of 15-me-PGF2alpha in group 2 was reduced from 9.67 mg (as in group 1) to 7.70 mg (P0.05) without any apparent reduction in the success rate. Gastrointestinal side effects appeared to be less frequent and less severe in group 2, although significant differences could not be demonstrated due to the limited size of the study group. In general, side effects were tolerated by the patients, because the course of treatment was short and symptoms usually subsided rapidly after treatment completion. According to the present study. the authors feel the method for termination of early pregnancy experimented in group 2 could be applied in the outpatient department. In addition, the authors have also used radioimmunoassay of beta-hCG to diagnose early pregnancy and evaluate the effects of the above medication in this study. They found that the hCG doubling time was delayed greatly in pregnant women after TP administration, the mean time being 11.67 +or-1.7 days (mean +or-SE). This suggests that the secretion of hCG in early pregnancy could be inhibited by TP. Thus, TP seems to enhance the effect of 15-me-PGF2alpha in the termination of early pregnancy. (author's modified)^ieng