Laparoscopic sterilization with the Falope-ring. Peroperative and late complications, method safety and a randomized investigation of immediate postoperative abdominal pain

Following 189 laparoscopic sterilizations with the Falope-ring, 33 cases of peroperative complications were registered. Laparotomy was required in one case. Sterilization undertaken in connection with termination of pregnancy was not associated with more peroperative complications than sterilization performed during an interval phase. In a randomized trial comprising 100 women it was not possible to demonstrate that application of lidocaine to the tube reduced the incidence of immediate postoperative abdominal pain which occurred in 18% of the women in the control group. A follow-up investigation of 91 women revealed change in bleeding pattern in 32% and low abdominal pain de novo in 40%. The frequencies of changes in bleeding pattern and of low abdominal pain were greater in women who had previously employed oral contraception than in women who had not done so. A questionnaire investigation comprising 169 women revealed that 38% had developed one or more of the following symptoms: hot flushes, tendency to depression and irritability, and tachycardia. Alterations in libido were found in 26%. 2% regretted the sterilization. One pregnancy occurred in 172 sterilized women after an average observation period of 13 months.