INDUCTION OF ABORTION AND LABOUR BY MEANS OF OESTRIN

Abstract

The activity of an estrin preparation, "oestro-form," was tested on pregnant rabbits in which abortion was produced in 16 out of 17 animals. "Oestroform" and "dimenformone" were then tried on human subjects for induction of 1) therapeutic abortion, 2) premature labor in normal pregnancy, 3) labor in abnormal pregnancy, 4) labor in cases of missed abortion or intra-uterine death of the fetus. The estrin preparations were administered in repeated doses (2 to 42) with several hrs. interval between successive doses and the total dosage was 20,000-6,800,000 International Units. If labor or abortion did not occur within 100 hrs. of the 1st injection, other oxytocic agents such as quinine or pituitrin were given. The method was unsuccessful in all 12 cases of attempted therapeutic abortion; of doubtful value in inducing labor in 5 out of 10 cases of normal pregnancy, and in 2 cases of abnormal pregnancy. However, in 12 cases of intrauterine death of the fetus 10 gave evacuation of the uterus with treatment, and 7 of these received only estrin. In addition, 4 cases of primary uterine inertia were benefited. The writers conclude that their results support the view that estrin is the main sensitizing factor of the human uterus and that it is of value in the last 2 categories named above.