PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Fertility Control, Postcoital”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Preliminary results with the antiprogestational compound RU-486 (mifepristone) for interruption of early pregnancy.

RU-486 (mifepristone) (Roussel-Uclaf, Paris, France) is an antiprogesterone that acts through a competitive binding at the site of the progesterone and cortisol receptor. It induced a complete expulsion in 29 (83%) of 35 patients with an unwanted pregnancy with up to 55 days of amenorrhea. A complete expulsion occurred in 17 (89%) of the 19 nulliparous women, and no serious side effects were seen. However, our results were less successful in ine patients with a more advanced pregnancy (between 8 and 10 weeks). In this group, only three complete expulsions were seen.

Abortion, Induced↗

Efficacy of methods for determining ovulation in a natural family planning program.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy in ovulation detection of methods used in natural family planning in comparison with pelvic ultrasonography. DESIGN: Prospective analysis of ovulation detection by natural family planning methods and ultrasonography. SETTING: Natural family planning clinic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Naples "Federico II". PATIENT(S): Forty healthy women who were highly motivated to use natural family planning. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Transvaginal ultrasonographic findings, urinary LH levels, salivary beta-glucuronidase activity, salivary ferning levels and characteristics of cervical mucus, and BBT. RESULT(S): Urinary LH level determination yielded a 100% correlation with the simultaneous ultrasonographic diagnosis of ovulation. Mucus sensations and characteristics yielded a 48.3% correlation when simultaneously evaluated with ovulation. Beta-glucuronidase levels yielded a 27.7% correlation. The salivary ferning test had a 36.8% ovulation-detection rate the day of ovulation, but 58.7% of results were uninterpretable. Body temperature measurements yielded a 30.4% correlation with the simultaneous ultrasonographic diagnosis of ovulation. CONCLUSION(S): Measuring urinary LH levels is an excellent method for determining ovulation. Although variations in mucus characteristics and basal body temperature correlate somewhat with ovulation, the length of the fertile period is overestimated with these methods. The salivary ferning test and measurement of beta-glucuronidase levels are not good methods for home ovulation testing.

Adult↗

Progesterone receptor antagonists and prostaglandins in human fertility regulation: a clinical review.

Progesterone receptor antagonists have been developed by substitutions at the 11-beta and 17 side-chain positions of the progestagen norethisterone. The most studied progesterone receptor antagonists are mifepristone (Mifegyne; Roussel-UCLAF; RU486) and ZK98734 and ZK98299 (Schering AG). These compounds bind avidly to the progesterone receptor and glucocorticoid receptor but have essentially no binding to the mineralocortocoid, oestrogen or androgen receptors. Mifepristone also binds avidly to albumin, resulting in a half-life of approximately 24 h after oral administration. Progesterone receptor antagonists can induce menstruation by a direct action upon the endometrium. They have also been shown to exert weak progesterone agonist actions in certain circumstances and to modulate pituitary hormone secretion by antagonizing the feedback actions of progesterone. Moreover, they release prostaglandin F2 alpha and E2 from human endometrium or early pregnancy decidua and reduce the metabolism of these eicosanoids. Clinically, progesterone receptor antagonists have been used in trials of menstrual regulation, abortion and induction of labour, and during treatment of breast or ovarian cancer, some forms of hypertension and meningioma. Progesterone receptor antagonists have been administered to approximately 70,000 women in 18 countries as medical abortifacients. They have been proven, especially when combined with prostaglandin analogues, to be as effective as surgical methods of termination of pregnancy. Progesterone receptor antagonists have focussed international attention on menstrual regulation, abortion and the rights of women to regulate their fertility.

Abortifacient Agents, Steroidal↗

Incidence of numerical chromosome anomalies in human pregnancy estimation from induced and spontaneous abortion data.

Induced abortion data provided an estimate of 4.7% numerical chromosome anomalies for women with a clinically recognized pregnancy at the end of the 7th week after the last menstrual period (LMP). This frequency requires that 51.9% of spontaneous abortions occurring after the 7th week should be chromosomally abnormal if the frequency of numerical chromosome anomalies at term (live and stillbirths combined) is 0.53%. Cytogenetic data from surveys of spontaneous abortion suggested a lower incidence of 39.7%. However, this figure is likely to be an underestimate because chromosome anomalies are almost certainly over-represented among the many early abortuses which lack embryonic tissue and hence are not karyotyped. The frequency of numerical chromosome anomalies at conception, arising from meiotic errors, was estimated from sperm karyotype data combined with information on the relative frequencies of maternal and paternal errors in the aetiology of trisomies. This provided a minimum estimate of 20%.

Abortion, Induced↗

The use of prostaglandin E1 analogue pessaries in patients having first trimester induced abortions.

A new prostaglandin analogue, 16,16-dimethyl=trans-delta 2-PGE1 methyl ester (16 me E1) was used for preoperative cervical dilatation in 23 pregnant women who had abortion induced for socio-economical reasons in the first trimester of pregnancy. A single vaginal pessary containing 1 mg 16 me E1 was inserted into the posterior fornix at 3-hour intervals. Thirteen (56.5 per cent) of the 23 patients had complete abortions and two patients (8.7 percent) had incomplete abortions. In six patients (26.1 per cent) the cervix was dilated to at least 10 mm and the remaining two patients (8.7 per cent) required mechanical dilatation at the time of vacuum evacuation. Apart from mild gastrointestinal symptoms, no serious side effects were noted. It is concluded that the new prostaglandin analogue, 16 me E1, could be used safely and effectively for preoperative dilatation of the cervix before surgical abortion in early pregnancy.

Abortion, Induced↗

Cervical occlusion due to adhesions following therapeutic abortion: an uncommon sequel to vacuum curettage.

Eleven women were referred with postabortal amenorrhoea and cyclical lower abdominal pain due to upper cervical occlusion by a thin band of fibrous adhesions. All had undergone first trimester termination of pregnancy by vacuum curettage. Associated intrauterine adhesions were found in 2 patients. Cervical adhesions were easily breached with a uterine sound and cervical dilators, and were then visualized with a hysteroscope. All women resumed normal menstrual cycles and suffered no sequelae. This unusual, but eminently treatable, complication of vacuum curettage should be more widely appreciated.

Abortion, Therapeutic↗

RU 486 (mifepristone). A short overview of its mechanisms of action and clinical uses at the end of 1996.

RU 486 (mifepristone) has proved to be a remarkably active antiprogesterone and antiglucocorticosteroid agent in humans. The mechanism of action of RU 486 involves the intracellular receptors of the antagonized hormones progesterone and glucocorticosteroids. At the molecular level, the most important features are high binding affinity to the receptor, interaction of the phenyl-aminodimethyl group in the 11 beta-position with a specific region of the receptor binding pocket, and RU 486-induced transconformation in the ligand binding domain. These properties have consequences at different steps of the receptor function as compared with agonists. However, this cannot be limited to the RU 486-receptor interaction; for instance, a switch from an antagonistic property to an agonist activity is possible, depending on the intervention of other signaling pathways. Derivatives with only one of the two antagonistic properties (antiprogestin, antiglucocorticosteroid) would be desirable in spite of similarities between the steroid structures, receptors involved, and responsive machineries in target cells. Clinically, the RU 486 plus prostaglandin method is ready to be used on a large scale, and is close to being as practical and safe as any medical method of abortion may be. The early use of RU 486, as a contragestive--that is, for use by a woman as soon as she fears a pregnancy she does not want--will help to defuse the abortion issue. Research should now be conducted to define an efficient and convenient contraceptive method with RU 486 or other antiprogestins. The usefulness of RU 486 for obstetrical indications, including facilitation of difficult delivery, has to be assessed rapidly. Gynecological trials, particularly in leiomyomata, should also be systematically continued. The very preliminary results obtained with tumors, including breast cancers, do indicate that further studies are necessary.

Animals↗

Fertility control with RU 486.

RU 486 is a synthetic steroid possessing antiprogestin and antiglucocorticoid activities. This paper summarizes the main pharmacological properties of this molecule. It is now under the phase II-III clinical studies in the world for early pregnancy interruption. By itself, the drug shows a 85% complete efficacy provided it is given at the dose of 600 mg (3 X 200 mg) once in pregnancies below or equal to 41 days of amenorrhea. The clinical tolerance of the drug is extremely satisfactory, but metrorrhagia can in some instances be heavy, thus necessitating an adequate medical monitoring. The antiglucogenic activity of the molecule has no clinical relevance. In the future, soma data suggest that adjunction of a synthetic prostaglandin analog could somehow increase the success rate, but further studies are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of such a combination.

Abortifacient Agents↗

The return to ovulation following early abortion: a comparison between vacuum aspiration and prostaglandin.

The return to ovulation following early abortion (less than or equal to 56 days amenorrhea) has been assessed after both vacuum aspiration under general anesthesia (N = 14) and menstrual induction with 16,16 dimethyltrans-delta 2PGE1 methyl ester in pessary form (N = 18). The urinary excretion of hCG, total estrogen and pregnanediol was similar in each group. There was an initial rapid decline in hCG excretion (t1/2 48 h), reaching 10% of the pre-treatment value after 6 days. Twenty-nine (91%) women showed a luteal phase rise in pregnanediol excretion, with ovulation occurring on day 29 (16-37) and 24 (16-32) in the vacuum aspiration and prostaglandin groups, respectively (median (range) NS). The wide range in the return of ovarian activity was related to the variation in decline of progesterone secretion (as reflected by excretion of pregnanediol) by the corpus luteum. Asynchrony between the ovarian and menstrual cycles resulting from a delay to ovulation presents a major constraint to the use of early pregnancy interruption as a routine method of fertility control.

Abortion, Induced↗