Pharmacologic Substance
oxytocic
[ ok-si-toh-sik, -tos-ik ]
Subclass of:
Reproductive Control Agents
Etymology:
Greek oxys = swift + tokos = birth
Hence an agent stimulating uterine contractions and hastening delivery.
Definitions related to oxytocics:
  • Class of drugs that promote rapid labor by, like the hormone oxytocin, stimulating uterine myometrial contractions.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • Drugs that stimulate contraction of the myometrium. They are used to induce LABOR, OBSTETRIC at term, to prevent or control postpartum or postabortion hemorrhage, and to assess fetal status in high risk pregnancies. They may also be used alone or with other drugs to induce abortions (ABORTIFACIENTS). Oxytocics used clinically include the neurohypophyseal hormone OXYTOCIN and certain prostaglandins and ergot alkaloids. (From AMA Drug Evaluations, 1994, p1157)
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
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