Timing of laparoscopic sterilization in abortion patients.

A total of 1604 laparoscopic sterilization procedures with variable time intervals after first trimester therapeutic abortion were performed at the Severance Hospital of the Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, from May 1973 to October 1975. Two hundred fourteen women were sterilized immediately at the time of abortion; 359 were sterilized between 1 and 42 days later; and the remaining 1031 women were sterilized 43 or more days after abortion. Electrocoagulation and tubal ring application were the tubal occlusion techniques used. The findings indicate that patients who underwent the combined abortion-sterilization procedure did not encounter higher rates of technical problems and/or complications than the other 2 groups. Only a few of these 1604 women studied had potentially serious complications that necessitated subsequent laparotomy, hospitalization after sterilization, and/or hospital readmission.