Search

This analysis demonstrates that levels of mortality associated with all major methods of fertility control (tubal sterilization, the pill, IUD, condom, diaphragm, spermicides, rhythm and abortion) are low in comparison with the risk of death associated with childbirth and ectopic pregnancy when no fertility control method is used. The exceptions are the risks associated with pill use after the age of 40 for women who do not smoke, and with pill use after the age of 35 for smokers. The safest approach to fertility control is to use the condom and to back it up by abortion in case of method failure. Except for the lowest-risk method of fertility control (condom and abortion) and the highest (pill use by a smoker), most strategies of fertility control result in a similar risk of mortality until the woman reaches 35 years of age. At that point, risk from pill use rises more sharply than risk associated with other methods. The above conclusions are based on the lowest contraceptive failure rates reported by Schirm and his colleagues for married American women. If, instead, the highest failure rates are employed, use of the pill by a nonsmoker or the IUD clearly is safer than reliance on barrier methods or rhythm. As noted earlier, there are few women who make their contraceptive choices solely on the basis of perceived risk of mortality. Very few, for example, would consider abortion as a primary method of birth control; and for many, abortion would not be acceptable even as a backup for failed contraception. Although the risk of mortality resulting from use of the IUD is low, many women who have not yet had children might not want to face the increased risk of infertility problems from pelvic inflammatory disease that have been associated with use of this method.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Sixteen cases with uterine perforation by a copper intrauterine device (IUD) are presented. In 13 cases the IUD had been inserted within 5 months following delivery, and in 6 cases the insertion had been painful. Missing string was the first sign in most cases. Laparatomy was performed in all cases to remove the IUD. The IUD was adherent to omentum or sigmoid in 10 cases. There is an increased risk of uterine perforation if the IUD is inserted postpartum during lactation and involution of the uterus. Therefore a painful IUD insertion and a missing string demand investigation of a partial or complete perforation.

An increased risk of developing genital actinomycosis has been found with long-term use of IUDs. In this study a group of women who had used their IUDs for 60 +/- 6 months was compared with a group having worn their IUDs for 36 +/- 6 months. None of the women examined had symptoms of genital infection. No significant differences could be found in colonization frequency of A. israelii on the IUDs or in humoral antibody response to the bacterium.

A case of actinomycosis involving the pelvic cavity is reported. The patient had a pelvic mass clinically and radiographically. Barium enema examination showed a mass with extrinsic compression and fixed narrowing of the rectum with mucosal irregularity. A computed tomographic scan showed a pelvic mass displacing the rectum.

A 26-year-old woman consulted our Family Planning Unit because she could not locate the thread of her intrauterine device (IUD), which was placed 16 months earlier. Attempts to remove the IUD under fluoroscopy failed. A hysterography showed the IUD to be in the pelvis away from the uterus. At laparotomy, the IUD was found hidden in the omentum and its removal was done by resection of a piece of the omentum. The patient became pregnant three months later and gave birth to a healthy baby at term.

A series of 6 ovarian pregnancies out of 369 ectopic (1.65/100 tubal) were selected to evaluate the fertility and contraception of patients with this rare condition. Mean patients' age was 28.5 years, mean previous parity was 1.5 children and all but one were using some sort of contraception (four had an IUD inserted and one had a previous laparoscopic tubal ligation). Clinical features on admission were as reported for the ectopic pregnancy and surgical findings at laparotomy showed an otherwise intact tubes. Postoperative further contraception was used by four patients and the two non-users became pregnant easily within an 18 month period. We conclude that ovarian pregnancy is an accident which occurs in a rather fertile population with an intact genital tract and who were using intrauterine contraceptive devices. Postoperative reproduction performance shows a high fertility rate in those patients who were not using any contraceptives at all.

Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated at the individual level an elevated risk of cardiovascular death for women who have been using oral contraceptives. Nevertheless, there has been no detectable increase in the number of cardiovascular deaths during the last fifteen years in countries where the use of oral contraceptives has become widespread. In this paper, we have tried to analyse this apparent contradiction and to discuss the causal nature of the relationship linking oral-contraceptives and cardiovascular death. For this purpose, we present a bibliographical summary of the relevant studies as well as an analysis of the trend in cardiovascular deaths among women in France from 1968 to 1975.

A study designed to monitor uterine placement of IUDs inserted immediately postpartum using echosonography was conducted at the Hospital de Gineco Obstetricia No. 23, "Dr. Ignacio Morones Prieto" in Monterrey, Mexico. TCu220 and Delta T IUDs were randomly assigned to, and inserted in women immediately following a normal vaginal delivery. Ultrasound examinations were to be performed within 60 min postinsertion, at 24 h postinsertion and at 1- and 3-month follow-up visits. There were no differences in the expulsion rates of the two device groups. Data are presented on the readings taken at the ultrasound examinations of the distance between the fundus and the upper part of the stem of the T. These differences differed significantly between the two device groups at the first ultrasound reading only (P less than or equal to 0.01). No relationship was found between the incidence of expulsion and the distance between the IUD and the fundus at any of the readings.

A case of postpartum intrauterine contraceptive device insertion that resulted in a remote complication is described. At the postinsertion follow-up visit the intrauterine contraceptive device was missing and presumed expelled. Four years later it was recovered from a complex mass involving the bladder and the appendix. Management for the missing intrauterine contraceptive device is recommended.

A levonorgestrel-releasing intracervical device (LNG-ICD) was inserted in 198 women. The subjects registered bleeding and spotting days on special cards, which were analyzed after one year of treatment. Bleeding and spotting days gradually declined from sixteen during the first month to seven during the seventh month, and they remained under that level until the end of the first year. There were more days of spotting than bleeding. Eleven per cent of the subjects experienced at least 90 days non-bleeding interval during the first year of LNG-ICD use. There were no significant changes in blood hemoglobin concentrations during the first four years of LNG-ICD use. The mean serum ferritin concentration increased from 38 micrograms/l at the beginning to 97 micrograms/l at the end of the fourth year.