A comparison of transcervical foley catheter and intravaginal misoprostol for cervical ripening and labour induction in a tertiary hospital in North-Central Nigeria

Background: Induction of labour is an important procedure in obstetric practice therefore, a safe and suitable method should be considered for cervical ripening and labour induction. This study compared the efficacy and safety of intravaginal misoprostol and intra- cervical Foley catheter for cervical ripening and labour induction. Methods: This study was carried out among parturients in a tertiary hospital between December 2017 and October 2018.Seventy-eight parturients with unfavourable cervix were randomized into two groups, to receive either 4hourly intravaginal misoprostol for a maximum of six doses or have passage of intracervical Foley balloon catheter over a maximum of 12 hours. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 23, p<0.05was considered statistically significant. Results: The study showed no difference in vaginal delivery rates (misoprostol, 61.6%; Foley, 53.9%; p= 0.49) between the two methods of cervical ripening. The induction to delivery interval for the vaginal misopostol group (14.25±5.21hours) was similar to the Foley catheter group (10.39±0.42hours; p=0.10). However, there was higher Bishop's score after cervical ripening in the vaginal misoprostol group (p=0.001). Conclusion: The maternal and perinatal outcomes in this study have shown that no method is superior to another when efficacy and safety of vaginal misoprostol and Foley catheter are concerned for cervical ripening and IOL. Hence any of these two methods should be considered suitable for IOL with unripe cervix.