Changes Reduced Infections From Medical... ( Differences in drug use delivery made...)

Changes Reduced Infections From Medical Abortion

Date:7/8/2009

Differences in drug use, delivery made a measurable impact in Planned Parenthood study

WEDNESDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Two changes to the way Planned Parenthood clinics perform medical abortion resulted in a 93 percent drop in the rate of serious infections, a new report says.

The changes involved administering the drug misoprostol to the area between the gum and the cheek (buccal administration), not the vagina, and introducing routine treatment with antibiotics.

"Planned Parenthood is very happy with the regimen," said Mary Fjerstad, lead author of a paper appearing in the July 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"We've got the same head-to-head efficacy as with vaginal delivery and a significant reduction in infections. And, since we added antibiotics, we have a further drop in serious infections," added Fjerstad, a nurse practitioner who was director of clinical quality improvement at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America when the study was conducted. She is now a senior clinical advisor at Ipas, a nonprofit organization in El Cajon, Calif., dedicated to increasing women's sexual and reproductive rights.

Some 300 Planned Parenthood clinics in the United States provide medical abortion, which is an abortion induced by medication rather than surgery.

There are three methods of medical abortion: misoprostol alone; methotrexate followed by misoprostol; and mifepristone (the so-called "abortion pill") followed by misoprostol. The combination of mifepristone and misoprostol is the most commonly used method. Mifepristone received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in medical abortion in 2000.

From 2001 to March of 2006, Planned Parenthood health clinics generally provided medical abortions with a combination of mifepristone, given orally, followed 24 to 48 hours later with misoprostol administered vaginally.

Prior resea
'/>"/>

1

GOOD

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Arbios Announces Management Changes
2. Renovis Announces Management Changes
3. Bradmer announces management changes
4. Streamline Health Announces Executive Management Changes
5. Onyx Pharmaceuticals Announces Management Changes
6. How pitching changes little leaguers shoulders
7. Sontra Medical Corporation Changes Name to Echo Therapeutics, Inc.
8. Medicare Changes Didnt Alter Cancer Care
9. Breaking Study: Masimo Pleth Variability Index (PVI) Shown Effective in Noninvasive Detection of Changes in Ventricular Preload and Fluid Volume
10. HealthShares(TM) Announces Changes to the HealthShares(TM) Diagnostics and Composite Indexes
11. Imaging shows structural changes in mild traumatic brain injury

Post Your Comments:

Changes Reduced Infections From Medical...( Differences in drug use delivery made...),Health