Does Follow-up With Serum Beta Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (BhCG) Simplify Medical Abortion?

Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts

Status

Completed

Conditions

Medical Abortion

Treatments

Other: serum BhCG follow-up

Other: ultrasonographic follow-up

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00907725

2009p000363

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if BhCG testing to determine the completion of medical abortion simplifies the medical abortion protocol. Investigators hypothesize that women randomized to ultrasonographic determination of completion of medical abortion will have MORE follow-up visits/interventions beyond standard protocol than those randomized to medical abortion follow-up with serum BhCG.

The investigators also hope to explore satisfaction with BhCG based follow-up among women seeking medical abortion. Investigators hypothesize that the majority of women who choose to follow-up with serum BhCG will be satisfied with this method of medical abortion follow-up.

Enrollment

376 patients

Sex

Female

Ages

18 to 64 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Pregnant women undergoing medical abortion
Proficiency in English
Working phone and willingness to be contacted by phone
Agreeing to surveys regarding demographics, follow-up preferences, and satisfaction with chosen follow-up method

Exclusion criteria

Concern for ectopic pregnancy or unable to document intrauterine pregnancy
Clinical instability or signs of pelvic infection
Medical conditions that contraindicate medical abortion
Unwilling or unable to comply with study follow-up procedures
Being in a situation where receiving phone calls or additional contact with research staff may endanger the privacy or safety of the subject (e.g., situations of domestic violence)
Inability to give informed consent
Previous participation in this study