Medical abortion (pharmaceutical abortion) is a method of artificial termination of an unwanted pregnancy in the early stages, which does not require surgical intervention.
It has fewer complications than curettage and vacuum aspiration, but is not completely devoid of them. So, after the use of mifepristone and other hormonal drugs, severe uterine bleeding is possible, leading to the need for curettage of the uterus.
The most effective is medical abortion for up to 4 weeks, when the fetal egg is still weakly attached to the uterus, and the hormonal changes in the female body are not so pronounced.
The method consists in a single dose in the presence of a doctor of 200 mg of the steroid preparation mifepristone (Mifegin (France), Mifeprex (Russia)), which provokes fetal death. By binding to progesterone receptors, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which stimulates the growth of the endometrium. At the same time, the sensitivity of the myometrium to oxytocin is restored, the action of prostaglandins increases, the myometrium begins to contract intensively, which leads to termination of pregnancy.
36-48 hours after taking mifegin, the patient takes a prostaglandin analogue (misoprostol 400 mcg orally or gemeprost 1 mg vaginally) combined with mifepristone. Under the influence of prostaglandins, the uterus contracts, the mechanism of expulsion of the fetus from the uterine cavity is launched.
The patient should be under the supervision of medical staff for at least two hours after taking the drugs. After 36-48 hours, the patient should undergo a control ultrasound, and also after 8-14 days come for a gynecological examination and a second ultrasound to make sure that the fetus has been completely expelled from the uterus.
The efficiency of the method is 95-98%.