[Sterilization for women using a hysteroscopy technique under local anaesthesia]

and methods The July 2001 law allows capable and consenting adult women to be sterilized after a period of reflection of 4 months and signature of an informed consent formula. The first French study on hysteroscopic tubular sterilization under local anaesthesia using expanding titanium, steel and nickel implants, is reported.

From February to October 2002, 25 women, with a mean age of 40 years, having conceived 2 or more children, benefited from this technique. The duration of the surgical procedure was a mean of 26 minutes (range: 16 to 57 minutes). In 2 women presenting with uterus retroversion, catheterisation of the fallopian tubes was impossible. Local anaesthesia was only used in 15 women, and led to the reduction in the number of days of hospitalisation.

This pilot study confirms the feasibility of trans-cervical sterilization of women under local anaesthesia.