A study of postabortion versus interval sterilization.

The attempt was made to evaluate and compare postabortion and interval minilaparotomy sterilization procedures. Over the July 1975 to November 1977 period 149 women underwent postabortion sterilization and 151 women underwent interval sterilization at the Medical College Hospital in Baroda India. All the procedures were performed by a single operator via minilaparotomy using the tubal ring technique. 100% of the subjects returned to the hospital for the 1st followup visits. Women undergoing postabortion and interval sterilization procedures were similar with respect to age parity number of living children previous child loss and education. Over 90% of the women in both groups had not practiced any form of contraception. There were no technical problems. The incidence of surgical difficulties was higher for the interval (13.2%) than for the postabortion (10.1%) cases. There were no major surgical problems. The most frequently reported difficulty in both groups of patients were related to visualizing and exteriorizing the tubes. No complications attributable to the abortion procedure were reported for patients undergoing postabortion sterilization. The incidence of all sterilization complications was higher for the postabortion cases (43.0%) than for the interval cases (27.8%). The difference was statistically significant for early postoperative complications. There was a higher incidence of complaints among the postabortion (34.9%) than among the interval cases (25.8%).