Fetal intracardiac potassium chloride injection to avoid the hopeless resuscitation of an abnormal abortus: I. Clinical issues

Study of efficacy of mifepristone as inducing agent for mid trimester medical termination of pregnancy in women with previous cesarean section

“…[7][8][9][10][11] Approximately half have been in unscarred uteri, and most have occurred in women with pregnancies of 18-24 weeks gestational age. [12][13][14][15][16] For second trimester abortion (13-24 weeks of gestation), medical abortion with mifepristone followed by a prostaglandin analogue is an appropriate method and has been shown to be safe and effective, according to WHO and the RCOG.…”

Feticide Does Not Modify Duration of Labor Induction in Cases of Medical Termination of Pregnancy

“…Feticide is carried out in major international referral centers in cases of pregnancy termination due to fetal anomaly at gestational age 1 24 weeks. This practice began as a means of shortening the termination procedure and minimizing the controversy surrounding neonatal care [2,13] .…”

“…Fetal death was provoked by administering a 19.1% potassium chloride solution into fetal circulation by sonographically guided puncture of the pregnant woman's abdomen. This procedure is referred to as feticide and is described in the literature as a practice applied mainly to second-trimester fetuses that could potentially survive following delivery even for a short period of time despite severe malformations, a fact that has medical, ethical and legal implications [2,3] .…”

“…The occurrence of associated complications is rare, around 0.1%, a rate comparable to that of other similar procedures such as amniocentesis. It is frequently carried out in specialized services in developed countries in cases of pregnancy of more than 19 weeks' duration, depending on the protocol established in each individual institution [2,12] .…”

The use of lidocaine for fetocide in late termination of pregnancy

“…Isada 14 described that asystole could not be obtained in one of 21 fetuses. Otherwise, the literature on intracardiac injection does not provide success rates 15,16 .…”