Study protocol. ECSSIT - Elective Caesarean Section Syntocinon Infusion Trial. A multi-centre randomised controlled trial of oxytocin (Syntocinon) [amount hidden] bolus and placebo infusion versus oxytocin [amount hidden] bolus and [amount hidden] infusion for the control of blood loss at elective caesarean section

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Caesarean section is one of the most commonly performed major operations in women throughout the world.

Some clinicians use an additional infusion of oxytocin for a further period following the procedure.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 2000 women taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults and adults, women only.

It will involve 2000 women undergoing elective caesarean section after 36 weeks gestation.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and pilot study.

The women were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Oxytocin study would be practical.

The methods mention a period of 36 weeks.

A multi-centre randomised controlled trial is proposed.

The study will take place in five large maternity units in Ireland with collaboration between academics and clinicians in the disciplines of obstetrics and anaesthetics.

What Was Measured

Intravenous oxytocin has a very short half-life (4-10 minutes) therefore the potential advantage of an oxytocin infusion is that it maintains uterine contractility throughout the surgical procedure and immediate postpartum period, when most primary haemorrhages occur.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Anemia, Blood Loss, Surgical, Cesarean Section, Clinical Protocols, Elective Surgical Procedures, Feasibility Studies and Oxytocics.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and pilot study of Oxytocin in 2000 women over 36 weeks.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2009 (BMC pregnancy and childbirth), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.