Induction of labor in term pregnancy: sublingual versus buccal misoprostol

Labor induction is one of the most public ways carried out global for delivering mothers. The aim of labor induction is to encourage uterine contractions before the spontaneous onset of labor, resultant in vaginal delivery misoprostol is used off-label for a variety of indications in the practice of obstetrics and gynecology, including medication abortion, medical management of miscarriage, induction of labor, cervical ripening before surgical procedures, and the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Regarding the importance and lack of similar researches in Iran, this research was done to compare the efficacy of buccal and sublingual misoprostol for labor induction in pregnant women.
This study was conducted as a randomized double-blind clinical trial from March 2017 to February 2018. In this survey, 200 women were randomly assigned to receive 50 µg buccal misoprostol and sublingual (100 buccal and 100 sublingual) in Kosar Hospital, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The maternal and fetal complications, Bishop score, and time of pain onset and its interval with labor were monitored in two groups and the findings were analyzed.
Research variables were age, gestational age, BMI, number of previous pregnancy, neonatal weight, total dose, Bishop score 1, Bishop score 6, oxytocin, and delivery type. The results showed that there were no differences between Bishop score 6 (P=0.07), and 1 (P=0.36), total dose (P=0.58), neonatal weight (P=0.43), number of pregnancy (P=0.67), BMI (P=0.67), and pregnancy weak (P=0.108) of sublingual group and buccal group. About 43 patients (43%) in buccal and 64 (64%) in sublingual group had vaginal delivery (P=0.05). The frequencies of maternal and fetal complications were similar between two groups.
It can be concluded that there is no difference between efficacy of sublingual and buccal misoprostol in pregnancy results, maternal, and fetal complications, however, it seems that the sublingual group is more effective than buccal group due to the significant amount of vaginal delivery, achieving vaginal delivery in less than 24 hours, and less need for oxytocin.