A comparative study of electrocoagulation and tubal rings for tubal occlusion at laparoscopy

The surgical and early postoperative complications and complaints associated with laparoscopic sterilization using electrocoagulation or tubal rings for tubal occlusion were evaluated in a comparative study. Procedures were randomly assigned to subjects (electrocoagulation to 151 subjects and tubal rings to 148 subjects). Difficulties in carrying out the sterillization procedures occurred more frequently when tubal rings were used (6.1%) than when electrocoagulation was used (2.0%). Rates of complications occurring at the time of surgery were similar for the two procedures. However, one patient in the electrocoagulation group had a bowel burn. Postoperative pelvic and abdominal pain were reported by a significantly higher proportion of the tubal ring cases (32.0%) than electrocoagulation cases (19.4%). It appears that although the incidence of surgical difficulties and pain may be somewhat more frequent with the tubal ring, the avoidance of such potentially serious complications as bowel burns may make femal sterilization by the tubal ring method preferable.