Comparing Foley Catheter Balloon With Early Amniotomy for Induction of Labor at Term

An unfavorable cervix during induction decreases the success rate of labor induction and vaginal delivery. Therefore it is required to apply cervical ripening methods for unfavorable cervices. Application of transcervical Foley catheter is an effective mechanical method and has the advantages of lower cost and lowest rate of fetal heart rate changes due to tachysystole compared with PGE1 and PGE2. Despite the advantages of mechanical methods, PGE1 and PGE2 are reported to be more effective than mechanical methods to achieve vaginal delivery within 24 hours. Although there are a lot of studies comparing PGE1, PGE2 and transcervical Foley balloon catheter separately and PGE1 combined with transcervical Foley balloon catheter, less is known about combined usage of PGE2 and transcervical Foley balloon catheter. Early amniotomy is another effective method to ripen cervix. we aim to evaluate which method is superior to another.