Terbutaline for Slowing Preterm Labor

Terbutaline can be used during preterm labor when:

• Labor needs to be delayed for 24 to 48 hours to:
  • Let Reference corticosteroids Opens New Window, given to the mother, help fetal lungs mature.
  • Provide time to move a mother to a hospital that provides neonatal intensive care, if her local hospital does not.
• Regular uterine contractions have thinned (effaced) the Reference cervix Opens New Window less than 80% and opened (dilated) it less than 4 cm, and the mother's amniotic sac has not broken.
• The mother is healthy.
• The fetus is alive and not in distress.

Depending on the medical facility, terbutaline may be the first medicine used to delay premature birth.

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