The Effect of Intermittent Oxytocin Pretreatment on Oxytocin-induced Contractility of Human Myometrium In Vitro

Abstract

(Anesth Analg. 2019;128(4):671–678. Doi:10.1213/ANE.0000000000002834) Uterine atony is the leading cause of postpartum hemorrhage, which is responsible for nearly a quarter of maternal deaths worldwide. One risk factor for uterine atony is exposure to large quantities of oxytocin during labor induction and augmentation. Compared with nonlaboring women delivering via cesarean, laboring women who receive oxytocin augmentation require 9 times more oxytocin in order to achieve adequate uterine tone during cesarean delivery (CD). Previous studies have compared a pulsatile oxytocin administration technique with continuous infusion in terms of time from initiation of infusion to delivery, but none have compared these techniques in terms of postpartum hemorrhage rate. This study aimed to compare intermittent oxytocin pretreatment with continuous oxytocin for effect on subsequent oxytocin-induced myometrial contractility.