| Abstract: | Compares Madlener's traditional technique and a new method of tubal ligation as sterilization procedures on postpartum women. The new tubal ring ligation procedure has been welcomed because of its nonreliance on electrocautery, a procedure which has proved to be unsafe. This study is based on the sterilization and follow-up of 300 postpartum women aged 21 to 40. Follow-up was carried out at day 7, at 6 months and at 1 year (78% of sample). Except for a minor surgical complication in 1 subject of each group, surgery was uneventful, averaging 7.9 and 9.0 minutes for tubal ligation and Madlener's technique, respectively. Postoperative complication, common to this type of surgery and unrelated to comparative aspects of the 2 surgeries were noted. Follow-up showed the commonest complaints to be backache, leukorrhea and general weakness. These symptoms, however, are very common in hospital patients. The incidence of backache, though, was significantly higher in the group of women sterilized by the tubal ring technique as compared with Madlener's. Neither group was significantly different in the incidence of postoperative menstrual irregularities; after 1 year the most common abnormality was excessive or scanty menstrual cycle. Pelvic findings showed a slight increase in the number of cervical erosions and endocervicitis in the tubal ring group as opposed to Madlener's; these findings, though, are only coincidental and have no bearing on the method of sterilization. The study also demonstrates that either method can safely be performed in postpartum women. |
