Isaptent--a new cervical dilator.

A new cervical dilator, Isaptent, was prepared from granulated Plantago ovata (Isapgol) seed husk. It was evaluated in a multicentric clinical trial for dilatation of the cervix in subjects opting for medical termination of pregnancy. The trial covered 804 women in over 21 centres in different parts of the country. The cases were between 15 to 45 years of age, 0 to 10 parity with a gestation period of 8 to 24 weeks. A single tent was used in 750 subjects and satisfactory dilatation was achieved in 94% of the cases. The cervical dilatation bore no relationship to age, parity and gestation period of the subjects. The tent provided self-lubrication, caused no apparent damage to the cervix and the vaginal flora remained unchanged in the randomly selected subjects in whom bacteriologic studies were performed. The outcome of the clinical trial and advantages of Isaptent over the other procedures used for cervical dilatation are discussed.