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Pulsatile Administration of Oxytocin for Augmentation of Labor

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

Abstract

In a randomized study, 94 patients with term pregnancies underwent augmentation of labor with either continuous or pulsed (every 8 minutes) intravenous oxytocin infusion. There were no significant differences with respect to the maternal characteristics, cervical dilatation and effacement, induction-to-labor interval, induction-to-delivery interval, cesarean section rate, analgesia for labor, or low Apgar scores. No hyperstimulation was noted in either group. In each group, 20% of the patients had dysfunctional labor patterns, with coupling and tripling of the uterine contractions. The mean ± SEM oxytocin administered in the pulsed-infusion group was significantly lower than that in the continuous-infusion group (2.1 ± 0.4 versus 4.1 ± 0.4 mU/minute; P < .001). The mean ± SEM total amount of oxytocin administered was 1300 ± 332 mU for the pulsed group and 1803 ± 302 mU for the continuous group, indicating that lower amounts of oxytocin were required for pulsed administration. Our study demonstrates that pulsatile administration of oxytocin is similar in efficacy to our standard continuous oxytocin infusion and requires a lower total amount and rate of oxytocin administered, which may afford a greater margin of safety.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. C. MERRILL and F. J. ZLATNIK Randomized, Double-Masked Comparison of Oxytocin Dosage in Induction and Augmentation of Labor Obstet. Gynecol., September 1, 1999; 94(3): 455 - 463. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]