Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

RU 486cent required narcotic analgesia. An additional 30 per centrequired non-narcotic analgesia (UK Multicentre Trial,1990:483). Another single-center British study reported that23 per cent of 100 women were given opiate analgesia (Hillet al., 1990a: 414). A Swedish study reported that 16 percent of 160 women were given an injectable painkiller. Thisstudy was broken down into four sub-groups, and in two ofthe sub-groups, the percentages were as high as 25 and 30per cent (Swahn and Bygdeman, 1989).In the largest published multicenter study to date reportingon treatment with 2,040 women in France (75 women whodid not return for follow-up were excluded from the study),only one per centrequired opiate analgesia. The novel featureof this study, however, was that in one of the sub-groups of378 women who were given 0.5 mg of the prostaglandin,sulprostone, 76 per cent were premedicated (the study doesnot specify what the premedication was). This adds a newtwist on the recording of pain since premedication dullswomen’s perception and experience of pain to follow.Therefore, one would speculate that the amount of painreported by these women would be lower. In spite of thepremedication, however, 51.2 per cent of the 378 womenwho were premedicated still required further analgesia(Silvestre et al., 1990:648).The assessment of gastrointestinal side-effects presents aspecial problem. Some studies treat vomiting, nausea, anddiarrhea as a single side-effect. Some assess them separately.It is generally claimed that the addition of PGs to the treatmentregimen leads to vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea, andtherefore some studies give figures before and after PGadministration. Where these three gastrointestinalcomplications are not separated, figures in the combinationtreatment studies are in the 20 per cent range (Gao et al.,1988). Zheng reports vomiting and nausea together, citing a48.3 per cent occurrence in 97 women (Zheng, 1989:22).When reported separately, figures for vomiting range from44