Acute coronary artery vasospasm associated with misoprostol for termination of pregnancy.

Prostaglandin E(1) analogues, gemeprost and misoprostol, are the most widely used drugs for medical termination of pregnancy within the first two trimesters of pregnancy. Gemeprost has been reported to be associated with acute cardiovascular accidents in a few cases, but no adverse cardiovascular events have been reported with misoprostol. For this reason, misoprostol has been considered a potentially safer drug and is widely recommended as a first-choice drug in combination with mifepristone. We report a case of a 32-year-old woman with active smoking and obesity, who developed an episode of transient acute coronary artery vasospasm following the administration of intravaginal misoprostol. This report illustrates that misoprostol can also be associated with acute coronary events, although it remains to be evaluated whether the risk is similar or lower to gemeprost. Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.