The Clinical Experience of Atosiban in Preterm Labour

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of atosiban in delaying preterm labour.

Study Design: A prospective, open label, non comparative study.

Place of Study: Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College Mumbai, India.

Methodology: Pregnant women (N=110) between the gestational age of 24 to 34 weeks, presenting with signs of preterm labour were enrolled in the study. Efficacy, safety and tolerability of Atosiban were assessed for a period of 72 hrs.

Results: Ninety Eight patients (89.09%) remained undelivered up to 72 hrs after completion of treatment phase and ninety seven patients (88.18%) till the end of their hospital stay (upto 7 days). There were six patients with twin and one with quadruplet pregnancy; atosiban therapy was successful in delaying labour upto discharge from hospital in all the seven patients. The study medication was well tolerated as no adverse events were observed throughout the study duration.

Conclusion: Atosiban, an oxytocin receptor antagonist, has proven to be an effective and well tolerated tocolytic drug and because of its favourable safety profile, it may be the best choice as a tocolytic therapy to delay the preterm labour.