Effect of additional intracervical prostaglandin administration on cervical dilatation during incomplete cervical dilatation in uterine torsion corrected buffaloes.

Abstract

Present study investigated the efficacy of additional intracervical (IC) prostaglandin (PG; cloprostenol sodium-500 μg) administration in buffaloes experiencing incomplete cervical dilatation (ICD) after uterine torsion correction. Twenty-two buffaloes in first stage of labor with soft to partially lobulated external-os post-torsion correction, with mean age: 7.0 ± 0.54 years, parity: 3.6 ± 0.47 (no.) and gestation length: 311.5 ± 1.12 days, were randomly divided into two groups viz. IC-group (n = 14) and intramuscular (IM) group (n = 8). In addition to conventional induction protocol, IC-group received an additional IC injection of PG at the start of experiment, whereas IM-group received an extra IM dose of PG after either 24 h or when no cervical dilatation progress was noticed. Surprisingly, mean cervical dilatation in terms of external-os and internal-os diameter after 12 h was 2.05 times and 3.38 times, and after 24 h, 2.03 times and 3.33 times higher (P < 0.001) in IC-group as compared to IM-group. After 36 h, calving occurred (P < 0.001) in 100.0 percent buffaloes of IC-group whereas in IM-group it occurred in 25.0 percent buffaloes. Rates of cervical dilatation, both in terms of external-os and internal-os diameter, after 12 and 24 h post-treatment, were also higher (P < 0.001) in IC-group in comparison to IM-group. Predictive model (P < 0.001) demonstrated that for each hour of progression, cervical dilatation at external-os and internal-os was increased by 0.285 and 0.301 units (cm) in IC-group, and 0.150 and 0.131 units in IM-group, respectively. Hence it can be concluded that additional intracervical prostaglandin in buffaloes affected with ICD post-torsion correction accentuates cervical dilatation.