THE RESULT OF FOLEY CATHETER INSERTION FOR PRE-INDUCTION CERVICAL RIPENING IN POST TERM PREGNANCY

Induction of labor for safety purposes of mother or fetus is a prevalent beneficial obstetrics measure. One of the important groups who has benefited from induction of labor is the patient with post-date pregnancy. For termination of pregnancy in these patients, both methods of labor induction or cesarean operation have been used. The condition of cervix is clearly related to the successful induction of labor, the length of delivery and probably vaginal delivery.Therefore the physicians use a preparatory agent for ripening of cervix before labor induction, that can be a medical agent or mechanical device. The aim of this study was to review the result of induction of labor using foley catheter for ripening the cervix in post term pregnancy. For this purpose, 60 patient were chosen non – randomly based on target, meaning exclusion–inclusion criterion, in two groups of case and control before insertion of foley catheter. Ripening of cervix was determined based on bishop system. After the placement of foley catheter the following parameters were determined: change of Bishop number, duration of foley insertion to self extraction, duration of oxytocin usage to uterine contraction, the active and second stage of labor, the type of delivery and induction success rate. The results of this study showed that the use of foley catheter leads to the increase in rate of vaginal delivery compared with control group. Since the use of foley catheter is a safe, non-invasive and reversible method for preparation of cervix in patient with undesired bishop score is highly recommended.