WARNINGS
HEMABATE Sterile Solution (carboprost tromethamine), like other potent oxytocic agents, should be used only with strict adherence to recommended dosages.
HEMABATE should be used by medically trained personnel in a hospital which can provide immediate intensive care and acute surgical facilities.
HEMABATE does not appear to directly affect the fetoplacental unit. Therefore, the possibility does exist that the previable fetus aborted by HEMABATE could exhibit transient life signs. HEMABATE is not indicated if the fetus in utero has reached the stage of viability. HEMABATE should not be considered a feticidal agent.
PRECAUTIONS
General
Animal studies lasting several weeks at high doses have shown that prostaglandins of the E and F series can induce proliferation of bone. Such effects have also been noted in newborn infants who have received prostaglandin E1 during prolonged treatment. There is no evidence that short term administration of HEMABATE Sterile Solution can cause similar bone effects.
In patients with a history of asthma, hypo- or hypertension, cardiovascular, renal, or hepatic disease, anemia, jaundice, diabetes, or epilepsy, HEMABATE should be used cautiously.
As with any oxytocic agent, HEMABATE should be used with caution in patients with compromised (scarred) uteri.
Abortion
As with spontaneous abortion, a process which is sometimes incomplete, abortion induced by HEMABATE may be expected to be incomplete in about 20% of cases.
Although the incidence of cervical trauma is extremely small, the cervix should always be carefully examined immediately post-abortion.
Use of HEMABATE is associated with transient pyrexia that may be due to its effect on hypothalamic thermoregulation. Temperature elevations exceeding 2° F (1.1° C) were observed in approximately one-eighth of the patients who received the recommended dosage regimen. In all cases, temperature returned to normal when therapy ended. Differentiation of post-abortion endometritis from drug-induced temperature elevations is difficult, but with increasing clinical experience, the distinctions become more obvious and are summarized below:
| Endometritis pyrexia | Pyrexia induced by HEMABATE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Time of onset: Typically, on third post-abortional day (38° C or higher). | Within 1 to 16 hours after the first injection. | |
| 2. | Duration: Untreated pyrexia and infection continue and may give rise to other pelvic infections. | Temperatures revert to pretreatment levels after discontinuation of therapy without any other treatment. | |
| 3. | Retention: Products of conception are often retained in the cervical os or uterine cavity. | Temperature elevation occurs whether or not tissue is retained. | |
| 4. | Histology: Endometrium is infiltrated with lymphocytes and some areas are necrotic and hemorrhagic. | Although the endometrial stroma may be edematous and vascular, it is not inflamed. | |
| 5. | The uterus: Often remains boggy and soft with tenderness over the fundus, and pain on moving the cervix on bimanual examination. | Uterine involution normal and uterus is not tender. | |
| 6. | Discharge: Often associated with foul-smelling lochia and leukorrhea. | Lochia normal. | |
| 7. | Cervical culture: The culture of pathological organisms from the cervix or uterine cavity after abortion alone does not warrant the diagnosis of septic abortion in the absence of clinical evidence of sepsis. Pathogens have been cultured soon after abortion in patients with no infections. Persistent positive culture with clear clinical signs of infections are significant in the differential diagnosis. | ||
| 8. | Blood count: Leukocytosis and differential white cell counts do not distinguish between endometritis and hyperthermia caused by HEMABATE since total WBC's may increase during infection and transient leukocytosis may also be drug-induced. Fluids should be forced in patients with drug-induced fever and no clinical or bacteriological evidence of intrauterine infection. Any other simple empirical measures for temperature reduction are unnecessary because all fevers induced by HEMABATE have been transient or self-limiting. | ||
Postpartum Hemorrhage
Increased blood pressure. In the postpartum hemorrhage series, 5/115 (4%) of patients had an increase of blood pressure reported as a side effect. The degree of hypertension was moderate and it is not certain as to whether this was in fact due to a direct effect of HEMABATE or a return to a status of pregnancy associated hypertension manifest by the correction of hypovolemic shock. In any event the cases reported did not require specific therapy for the elevated blood pressure.
Use in patients with chorioamnionitis. During the clinical trials with HEMABATE, chorioamnionitis was identified as a complication contributing to postpartum uterine atony and hemorrhage in 8/115 (7%) of cases, 3 of which failed to respond to HEMABATE. This complication during labor may have an inhibitory effect on the uterine response to HEMABATE similar to what has been reported for other oxytocic agents.1
- 1
- Duff, Sanders, and Gibbs; The course of labor in term patients with chorioamnionitis; Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol.; vol. 147, no. 4, October 15, 1983 pp 391–395.
Drug Interactions
HEMABATE may augment the activity of other oxytocic agents. Concomitant use with other oxytocic agents is not recommended.
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Carcinogenic bioassay studies have not been conducted in animals with HEMABATE due to the limited indications for use and short duration of administration. No evidence of mutagenicity was observed in the Micronucleus Test or Ames Assay.