Effectiveness of Intracervical Foley’s Catheter with PGE2 Versus PGE2 Alone for Induction of Labour at Term Pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of intracervical foley catheter with prostaglandin E2(PGE2) and PGE2 alone in achieving vaginal delivery in a patient having full-term pregnancy and its impact on maternal and fetal outcomes. Methodology: This Comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, and Combined Military Hospital, Peshawar from January to December 2021. It included 388 pregnant women with singleton, term,cephalic presentation, admitted for induction of labor. The patients were divided into two groups, with one group (group A) comprising patients undergoing induction of labor with a foley catheter and prostaglandinE2 combined, whereas Group B consisted of patients having ProstaglandinE2 tablet only, as the mode of induction. The primary outcome was the mode of delivery, whereas secondary outcomes were induction to delivery interval and neonatal Apgar score. Results: In Group A, 176 (90.7%) patients showed effective results in achieving vaginal while in Group B, 172 (88.7%) patients delivered vaginally (P-value 0.504). Mean induction to delivery interval was 12.5+2.7 hours in group A and 13.6 + 3.7 hours in Group B. (Mean difference 1.1 hr, p-value:0.04, CI :0.9-1.9). There was no significant difference in neonatal Apgar score in the two groups(p-value: 0.816). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that intracervical foley catheter with PGE2 application resulted in a significantly shorter induction-to-delivery interval as compared to the ProstaglandinE2 tablet alone. However, regarding mode of delivery and neonatal APGAR score, although the combined Foley and PGE2 group showed better results than the PGE2 alone group, the results were not statistically significant