Modern tocolysis and adverse effects of tocolytics

Abstract

Relevance. Toсolytic therapy is the only method that is used in the treatment of pregnant women with preterm labor. However, the effectiveness and safety of this therapy is still a matter of debate. One of the least studied issues of this problem is the safety of therapy, which is primarily manifested by the frequency of side effects. The aim is to carry out a comparative study of the safety of the most common tocolytic agents - atosiban, nifedipine and hexoprenaline sulfate. Material and methods. The study included 173 pregnant women with threatening premature births in a period of 28 to 34 weeks. In 54 cases, tocolysis with nifedipinum, 57 with atosiban, 62 with hexoprenaline was performed. To assess the effectiveness of tocolysis, clinical and instrumental methods of control (ultrasound with cervicometry) were used. The primary outcome points were the frequency of prolongation of pregnancy at 48 h and the incidence of side effects, including those requiring the termination of tocolysis. Results. Prolongation of pregnancy at 48 h was achieved in groups of nifedipine, atosiban and hexoprenaline sulfate, respectively in 46 (85.19%), 55 (96.49%) and 53 (77.40%) pregnant. Atosiban showed significantly higher efficacy. In 8 cases of tocolysis with nifedipine and 3 - hexoprenaline, the tocolysis protocol was not performed due to intolerance of treatment. In these observations, the highest frequency of preterm labor occurred. After excluding these observations from the analysis of differences in the frequency of prolongation of pregnancy was not. The overall frequency of adverse events in the groups was 38.9, 12.3 and 82.3%, and was significantly lower in the atosiban group than nifedipine and hexoprenaline sulfate. Conclusions. The effectiveness of tocolysis is affected by the tolerability of the drugs. Atosiban showed the best of the three drug safety profile. With comparable efficacy, atosiban has proven to be a drug that, to a greater extent than nifedipine and hexoprenaline sulfate, meets the current requirements for tocolytic drugs.