The effect of postplacental insertion of the spiked and the standard Lippes loop on uterine involution

The spiked Lippes loop was inserted in 53 women and the standard loop in 55 women immediately following the delivery of the placenta after normal vaginal delivery. A group of 50 recently delivered women with no IUD was studied as a control. The cases were followed up for 1 year. Ultrasonic scanning was performed during the 6th week after insertion for 47 cases with the spiked loop and 43 cases with the standard loop. All loops were correctly positioned within the uterine cavity except in two cases; one using the spiked and the other using the standard loop. The loops were found displaced downwards and as there was excessive bleeding, the devices were removed. Regarding the effect of the IUD on uterine involution, it was found that the fundus to internal os length for the cases with IUDs was shorter than that among the controls, also this length among the standard loop users was significantly shorter than that of the controls (P less than 0.01). Postplacental IUD insertion did not delay uterine involution, on the contrary, it helped involution. Regarding the effect of lactation, the fundus to internal os length for the fully lactating women either using a loop or not, was found to be significantly shorter than that of the non-lactating cases (P less than 0.002).