[Hysteroscopy to relieve IUD-related symptoms]

A levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (LNG-IUD) had been placed in 4 patients, aged 33, 27, 46 and 27 years. They subsequently experienced symptoms that were possibly related to the IUD, such as haemorrhagic discharge, pain and dyspareunia. Patients who have persistent symptoms after IUD placement need to be examined. If a malpositioned IUD is suspected, outpatient vaginoscopic hysteroscopy should be considered. Hysteroscopy can reveal the cause of the symptoms. Furthermore, an IUD that is incorrectly positioned can be repositioned during the same procedure. One advantage to this is that unnecessary removal of an IUD may be prevented. The first patient referred to in this article had lost confidence in the IUD and requested its removal. In the second patient, the IUD had perforated the anterior wall of the uterus and it was removed as well. In the third patient, the IUD had perforated the posterior wall of the uterus, but it was repositioned during the hysteroscopy. In the last patient, hysteroscopy showed the IUD to be in a transverse position, but this could be corrected immediately.