***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Two doses , 200 and 400 micrograms , of misoprostol , administered vaginally every 12 hours , up to four times , were tested in 101 and 133 healthy women , respectively , for interruption of pregnancies with 35 through 77 days of amenorrhea . The proportion of women who aborted increased with longer duration of treatment and was significantly higher with 400 than with 200 micrograms ( 66 versus 46 percent at 48 hours ) . Significance was maintained after controlling by age , body weight , parity , previous abortion and gestational age . Abortions were classified as incomplete or complete , according to the presence or not of embryonic tissue in the uterine cavity , diagnosed by vaginal sonography . Vacuum aspiration was carried out in all cases not classified as complete abortion 48 hours after the initiation of treatment , or earlier in case of persistent bleeding or woman 's request . The possibility of increasing effectiveness by using higher dose , shorter intervals or longer duration of treatment is discussed The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the efficacy and complications associated with early medical and surgical pregnancy termination . The study population comprised 932 consecutive women undergoing pregnancy termination at gestations of 63 days or less . There were no age or parity differences between the study groups . Medical termination was performed with mifepristone 200 mg orally and misoprostol 800 microgram vaginally ; surgical aspiration termination was performed under general anaesthesia . Outcome measures were : surgical curettage for presumed retained products of conception ; ongoing pregnancy ; and planned and emergency review in the unit . Early medical and surgical termination were associated with a 90.2 and 94.5 % complete abortion rate respectively ( P = 0.025 ) . The complete abortion rate with medical termination decreased significantly with increasing parity ; no such relationship with surgical abortion was found . Women of parity three or more were less likely to have a complete abortion following a medical ( 83.3 % ) compared to surgical procedure ( 97.7 % ) ( P = 0.028 ) . The ongoing pregnancy rate was 0.9 % with medical and 0.5 % with surgical termination ( P = NS ) . Medical termination was associated with a lower complete abortion rate than surgical termination , particularly for women of higher parity . However , early medical termination allows over 90 % of women to avoid the risks of surgical instrumentation of the uterus and anaesthesia BACKGROUND Misoprostol is a prostagl and in E(1 ) analogue that has been used for medical abortion . We conducted this prospect i ve study to compare the efficacy of vaginal misoprostol for abortion in women at a gestational age of < 42 days and in women at a gestational age of 42 - 56 days . METHODS A total of 160 women seeking medical termination of a pregnancy of < 56 days were enrolled in the study . Medical termination was performed using 800 micro g of vaginal misoprostol , repeated every 24 h for a maximum of three doses . RESULTS The overall complete abortion rate was 91.3 % . In group A ( gestation < 42 days ) complete abortion occurred in 96.3 % of women , whereas in group B ( gestation = 42 - 56 days ) complete abortion occurred in 86.3 % of women ( P < 0.025 ) . The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to side-effects ( incidence of pain , bleeding , nausea , diarrhoea , fever and headache ) . Women who had aborted successfully were significantly more satisfied with the method compared with women who did not ( P < 0.001 ) . CONCLUSIONS The vaginal misoprostol-alone regimen is highly effective for women seeking medical abortion of pregnancies of < or=56 days . However , better efficacy may be achieved at a gestational age of < 42 days It is known that when misoprostol is given at 200 microg every 3 h after mifepristone pretreatment , the vaginal route is more effective than the oral route . However , women prefer the oral route . This r and omized study was to test our hypothesis that oral misoprostol 400 microg is as effective as vaginal misoprostol 200 microg when given every 3 h in termination of second trimester pregnancy after priming with mifepristone . A total of 142 patients was r and omly assigned to group 1 ( 200 mg mifepristone + 400 microg oral misoprostol every 3 h up to five doses ) or group 2 ( 200 mg mifepristone + 200 microg vaginal misoprostol every 3 h up to five doses ) . The incidence of side-effects and the preference study were assessed through a st and ardized question naire during and after the abortion . For the oral group , both the incidence of diarrhoea ( 40.0 versus 23.2 % , P = 0.03 ) and the amount of drug used ( 1734 compared with 812 microg , P < 0.0001 ) were significantly higher than that of the vaginal group but the incidence of fever appeared to be lower ( not significant ) . There was no significant difference in complete abortion rate : 81.4 % in the oral group and 75.4 % in the vaginal group . The median induction-abortion interval was similar in the two groups ( 10.4 versus 10.0 h ) . The percentage of women who aborted in 24 h was also similar : 57/70 ( 81.4 % ) in the oral group and 58/69 ( 87.0 % ) in the vaginal group . Overall , 82.0 % of women preferred the oral route . Oral misoprostol ( 400 microg ) given every 3 h up to five doses , when combined with mifepristone , was as effective as the vaginal ( 200 microg ) route in second trimester termination of pregnancy . This regimen could also be offered to those women who found repeated vaginal administration unacceptable At Maputo Central Hospital in Mozambique ,  intravaginal misoprostol , a PGE2 methyl-analogue , was used by 169 women whose request for interruption of pregnancy had been approved . The drug was used by women who had completed between 12 and 23 weeks of gestation . The initial dose was 800 micrograms , repeated 24 hours later if abortion had not occurred or was not in progress . The treatment was considered a failure when abortion was not advanced by 48 hours after the initial dose , and curettage was performed in all but one of such cases . During the course of the study , the dosage was successively reduced to 600 , 400 , and 200 micrograms . Abortion was successfully induced in 154 women ( 91.1 percent ) ; there were 10 failures ( 5.9 percent ) , and five women ( 3.0 percent ) dropped out of the study . The mean time from initial dose to abortion was 14.3 hours . No significant association of success rate and time from dosage to expulsion was found with age , parity , previous abortion , or gestational age . Preventive vacuum aspiration of the uterine cavity was carried out on all subjects This study assessed the efficacy and side effects of first trimester medical abortion using mifepristone and vaginally administered misoprostol . Medical abortion was first introduced in Denmark in December 1997 , and the acceptability of this new approach in a Danish population was evaluated . The study included the first 100 women seeking medical abortion . The gestational age was from 33 to 56 days . All received 600 mg mifepristone ( RU 486 ) orally followed 2 days later by vaginally administered misoprostol 400 microg . Success was defined as achieving complete abortion without the need for surgical evacuation . Ninety-three percent achieved a successful medical termination of pregnancy . Side effects were few , and the acceptability was high . Ninety percent of the women would prefer medical abortion in case of a new unwanted pregnancy . The combination of mifepristone and vaginally administrated misoprostol is effective , safe , has few side effects and is well accepted by Danish women Although it has been demonstrated that a combination of mifepristone and a prostagl and in is an effective method of inducing abortion in early pregnancy , the optimum dose of the antigestogen is unknown . Women ( n = 220 ) requesting abortion in early pregnancy ( < or = 63 days amenorrhoea ) were r and omized to receive a single dose of either 600 or 200 mg mifepristone followed 48 h later by a single dose of 600 micrograms misoprostol by mouth . The percentage of women who had a complete abortion ( 93.6 % confidence interval 90.4 - 95.5 % ) was identical in the two groups . There was no significant difference in the number of women who passed the fetus within 4 h of receiving the prostagl and in ( 64 versus 74 % ) , the days of bleeding ( 14.6 + /- 1.1 versus 15.3 + /- 0.9 ) nor in the onset of the next period ( 39.7 + /- 1.3 versus 36.7 + /- 1.3 ) respectively between the groups receiving 200 or 600 mg mifepristone . However , the complete abortion rate was significantly higher in women < or = 49 days compared to women 50 - 63 days amenorrhoea ( 97.5 versus 89.1 % respectively ; P < 0.02 ) . There was no difference in any of the other parameters at different weeks of gestation . We conclude : ( i ) that the recommended dose of mifepristone could be reduced from 600 to 200 mg without loss of clinical efficacy , ( ii ) that the combination of mifepristone and 600 micrograms misoprostol is a highly effective alternative to vacuum aspiration for inducing abortion in women < 50 days amenorrhoea and ( iii ) at gestation > 56 days , this combination may result in too many incomplete abortions to be clinical ly acceptable OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare the abortifacient effect of intravaginally administered moistened misoprostol tablets with that of the combination regimen of mifepristone and oral misoprostol . STUDY DESIGN One hundred women at < /=56 days ' gestation received 800 microg misoprostol intravaginally in the form of sodium chloride solution-moistened tablets . The dose was repeated 24 hours later if a gestational sac persisted on ultrasonographic examination . These 100 subjects ( group 1 ) were then matched with 100 subjects who had received 600 mg mifepristone followed by 400 microg misoprostol orally as part of a large multicenter American trial ( group 2 ) . Subjects were monitored for abortion success , adverse side effects , and bleeding characteristics . Abortion failure was defined as persistence of an intrauterine sac or the need to perform a surgical evacuation of the uterus for hemorrhage , for incomplete abortion , or at the subject 's request . RESULTS In 88 of the 100 women in group 1 and 94 of the 100 women in group 2 , abortion occurred and a surgical procedure was not required . Abortion rates were not influenced by gestational age in either group . Prostagl and in-related side effects of fever and chills , vomiting , diarrhea , and uterine pain were all significantly higher in group 1 . Excessive uterine bleeding was uncommon in both groups , and no subjects received blood transfusions . CONCLUSION The abortion rate with intravaginally administered moistened misoprostol tablets is similar to that with the combination of mifepristone and oral misoprostol . However , intravaginal administration of misoprostol is associated with significantly more prostagl and in-related side effects BACKGROUND There have been no US studies published on the effectiveness , safety , time to bleeding , and acceptability of misoprostol administered by vagina at home and repeated , if needed , after mifepristone was administered for abortion in women up to 8 weeks pregnant . METHODS A prospect i ve trial was conducted with women up to 8 weeks pregnant wanting an abortion . After receiving mifepristone 600 mg orally , subjects self-administered vaginal misoprostol 800 micrograms at home 2 days later . Subjects returned within 7 days , and if the gestational sac was still present on ultrasound , a repeat dose of misoprostol was administered in the office . Subjects completed a daily symptom log and a question naire on the acceptability of the procedures . RESULTS Of the 166 subjects , 163 ( 98 % ) had a complete medical abortion . Three subjects presented with persistent bleeding and an incomplete abortion from 27 to 35 days after taking mifepristone and required surgical intervention . Vaginal spotting or bleeding occurred in 104 ( 62 % ) subjects before taking misoprostol , and 18 ( 11 % ) did not use misoprostol .  Bleeding occurred on average 3.5 hours ( SD , 3.2 ) after taking misoprostol . Six ( 4 % ) subjects required a second dose of misoprostol .  Gastrointestinal side effects were common , mild , and brief . One hundred fifty-nine ( 96 % ) subjects agreed that the procedure went well , and 146 ( 90 % ) agreed that home administration of misoprostol was acceptable . CONCLUSIONS Two days after taking mifepristone , misoprostol 
    Output:
    
Results of this review confirm that , with respect to infectious complications , medical abortion is a safe and effective option for first- and second-trimester pregnancy termination .
After accounting for regional variations in diagnosis , there is little difference in frequency of infection among the regimens review ed .