Featured Review: Uterotonic agents for preventing postpartum haemorrhage

New evidence on the best drugs to prevent postpartum haemorrhage point away from Oxytocin – the standard drug currently used to treat this condition.Bleeding after birth is the most common reason why mothers die in childbirth worldwide.Includes data from 88,000 women across 140 trials.The review found that ergometrine plus oxytocin, misoprostol plus oxytocin, and carbetocin were more effective drugs for reducing excessive bleeding at childbirth than oxytocin which is the current standard drug used to treat this condition.Bleeding after birth is the most common reason why mothers die in childbirth worldwide. Although most healthy women can cope well with some bleeding at childbirth, others do not, and this can pose a serious risk to their health and even life. To reduce excessive bleeding at childbirth, the routine administration of a drug to contract the uterus (uterotonic) has become standard practice across the world.The aim of this research fromCochrane Pregnancy and Childbirthwas to identify which drug is most effective in preventing excessive bleeding after childbirth with the least side-effects.Different drugs given routinely at childbirth have been used for preventing excessive bleeding. They include oxytocin, misoprostol, ergometrine, carbetocin, and combinations of these drugs, each with different effectiveness and side-effects. Side-effects may include: vomiting, high blood pressure and fever. We analysed all the available evidence to compare all of these drugs an...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news