Administration of intraumbilical misoprostol to women with retained placenta despite active management of third stage of labour reduces the need for manual removal of placenta and the amount of blood loss vaginally.

Retained placenta (RP)is one of the complications of third stage of labour; it should be managed promptly as it may cause severe bleeding, infection, maternal morbidity and mortality .The current standard management of RP word wide, by manual removal aims to prevent these problems, but it is unsatisfactory method because it requires general anaesthesia in hospital, It is an invasive procedure with its own serious complications of bleeding, infection and genital tract injury. Umbilical vein injection of misoprostol is a simple, safe method and could be performed at the place of delivery .

Inclusion Criteria:

• women having singleton pregnancy
• 28 weeks of gestation or more delivered vaginally
• prolongation of the third stage of labour (more than 30 min) following active management of third stage of labour

Exclusion Criteria:

• Who refused to participate in the trial
• Multiple pregnancies
• Previous Caesarean Section
• Haemodynamically unstable
• Severe anaemia (haemoglobin less than 8gm/dl)
• Chorioamnionitis