Cervical ripening with the balloon catheter and the risk of subsequent preterm birth

Abstract

Cervical ripening with a balloon catheter does not increase the rate of subsequent spontaneous preterm birth.

Induction of labor with Foley catheter and risk of subsequent preterm birth: follow‐up study of two randomized controlled trials (PROBAAT‐1 and ‐2)

“…Our findings are in line with those of other studies addressing the same research question 7–9 . Zafran and colleagues 9 compared, in their cohort study of 366 women with two or more known pregnancies, term induction of labor using a balloon catheter (60‐mL Foley catheter or Cook double balloon) with term induction using vaginal prostaglandin E2, as well as with spontaneous onset of labor and found no difference in the rate of spontaneous PTB < 37 weeks' gestation in a subsequent pregnancy (0.8% vs 0.9% vs 3.1%; P = 0.38).…”

“…Our findings are in line with those of other studies addressing the same research question 7–9 . Zafran and colleagues 9 compared, in their cohort study of 366 women with two or more known pregnancies, term induction of labor using a balloon catheter (60‐mL Foley catheter or Cook double balloon) with term induction using vaginal prostaglandin E2, as well as with spontaneous onset of labor and found no difference in the rate of spontaneous PTB < 37 weeks' gestation in a subsequent pregnancy (0.8% vs 0.9% vs 3.1%; P = 0.38). Sciscione and colleagues 7 compared, in their cohort study of 126 women with two or more known pregnancies, term induction of labor using a 30‐mL Foley catheter with applied traction to term induction using vaginal prostaglandin E2, and also found no difference in the rate of PTB < 37 weeks' gestation in a subsequent pregnancy (3.2% vs 4.7%; P = 0.53).…”

“…Our findings are in line with other studies addressing the same research question [7][8][9] . Zafran and colleagues compared, in their cohort study of 366 women with two or more known pregnancies, term induction of labor with a balloon catheter (60cc Foley catheter or Cook double balloon) to vaginal prostaglandin E2 and also to women who had a spontaneous onset of labor and found no difference in the rate of spontaneous PTB below 37 weeks gestation in a subsequent pregnancy (0.8% versus 0.9% versus 3.1%, respectively; p=0.38) 9 . Sciscione and colleagues compared in their cohort study with 126 women with two or more known pregnancies, term induction of labor with a 30cc Foley catheter with applied traction to vaginal prostaglandin E2 and also found no difference in PTB below 37 weeks gestation in a subsequent pregnancy (3.2% versus 4.7%, respectively; p=0.53) 7 Although all of the above studies addressed the same research question, heterogeneity exists between studies with regard to the balloon volume and whether or not traction was applied.…”

“…Also, Zafran and colleagues and Sciscione and colleagues found relatively low numbers of preterm birth in the subsequent pregnancy after term induction with a Foley catheter, 0.5% (spontaneous PTB) and 3.2% respectively 7,9 . Levine and colleagues, are the only ones to report a PTB rate of 10% in subsequent pregnancy after term labor induction 8 .…”

“…Looking at contributing factors for cervical weakness, it is reasonable to believe that using a larger balloon volume or a double Cook balloon, in which an 80‐mL balloon is placed above and below the internal ostium, or applying traction, could have the potential to cause more cervical tissue damage and therefore have more effect on cervical integrity. However, such an association was not found by researchers who used these methods 7,9 . High‐volume balloons, double balloons or applying traction are used to expedite labor.…”