Ethacridine lactate is a poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG) inhibitor.

Ethacridine lactate is effective against mostly gram-positive species like Streptococci and Staphylococci and ineffective against gram-negative(P seudomonas aeruginosa)[1]. Ethacridine Lactate is a safe abortifacient with about 80% success and hardly any side effects[2].

The incidence of retained placenta is 16%. The extra-amniotic injection is a technically simple procedure and can be carried out even between 13-15 weeks of pregnancy when intraamniotic injection is difficult. Its bactericidal properties minimize the danger of post-abortal infection. It can be used in certain medical conditions like hypertension, bronchial asthma where hypertonic saline and prostaglandin are contraindi-cated[2]. Ethacridine lactate performs better than other instillation abortion methods and it is a safe and effective method. Ethacridine lactate induces successful abortion in 92.8% of cases which is much higher than that found in the literature (about 82%). Abortion failure occurrs in the other 4 cases because of transverse lie of fetus, cervical dystocia, and uterine inertia[2].

[1]. Rotin LE, et al. Erlotinib synergizes with the poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase inhibitor ethacridine in acute myeloid leukemia cells. Haematologica. 2016 Nov;101(11):e449-e453. [2]. Purandare VN, et al. The place of ethacridine lactate for mid-trimester M.T.P. (Multicentric study). J Postgrad Med. 1977 Apr;23(2):77-83. [3]. Gupta S, et al. Ethacridine lactate -- a safe and effective drug for termination of pregnancy. Indian J Matern Child Health. 1993;4(2):59-61.