ABSTRACT

Background: To reduce the caesarian section rates, induction of labour (IOL) & vaginal births must be encouraged by health care providers. For the induction of labor, cervical ripening by intra cervical foley catheter insertion is an old, effective & safe mechanical method in comparison of prostaglandin (PG) suppositories.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy in terms of mean induction to delivery time between trans-cervical Foley’s catheter and intra cervical prostaglandin E2 for induction of labour.

Study design: a randomized controlled trial conducted in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Civil Hospital, Bahawalpur. 

Study duration: July to December 2019.

Materials & Methods: A total of 60 women, aged 18 to 40 years, with cephalic, singleton pregnancy undergoing an induction of labour at a gestational age 37-41 weeks were included. Patients presenting with prelabour rupture of membrane, multiple pregnancy, previous history of caesarean section, HTN and DM were not included in the study. Lottery method was used to place all selected patients in two equal groups i.e. Group A (trans cervical Foley’s catheter) & Group B (intracervical prostaglandin E2). The mean induction to delivery time was measured in both the groups. 

Results: Mean age of the patients in group A was 30.67 ± 5.09 years while in group B was 31.33 ± 5.58 years. Mean gestational age was 39.12 ± 1.24 weeks. Mean parity was 2.63 ± 1.07.In my study, induction to delivery time with the use of Foley catheter was significantly lower than that of PGE2 group (p-value = 0.0001). 

Conclusion: This study concluded that trans-cervical Foley’s catheter can be used effectively for successful induction of labour to reduce abdominal delivery as compared to intra-cervical prostaglandin E2. 

Keywords: mechanical method, trans cervical Foley catheter, prostaglandin vaginal pessaries, PGE2, induction to delivery time.