Six-week retention after postplacental copper intrauterine device placement

We sought to evaluate the 6-week clinical outcomes (intrauterine device [IUD] retention, recognized expulsions, ability to visualize or palpate strings, and need for ultrasound evaluation) in women who received a TCu380A postplacental IUD (PPIUD) after vaginal (VD) or cesarean delivery (CD).

We conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the 6-week retention of TCu380A IUDs placed within 10 min of placental delivery in VD (n=137) and CD (n=73). We used Student's t test and Wilcoxon rank sum tests for continuous data and Pearson χ² test and Fisher's Exact Test for categorical data.

Of the 169 women who had follow-up, 151 (89.3%) retained their IUD at 6 weeks (95% CI 84.7%-93.9%). All women who underwent CD retained their IUD at 6 weeks postpartum (56/56), whereas 95/113 (84% [95% CI 76.0%-90.3%]) who underwent VD retained their original IUD (p<.01). Strings were detected more frequently in women who had a VD (93.1% [95% CI 85.6-97.4]) compared to those who delivered by CD (44.2% [95% CI 30.5-58.7]; p<.01). Women who underwent CD had an ultrasound to evaluate IUD location more frequently (42.9% [95% CI 29.7-56.8]) compared to women who underwent VD (13.7% [95% CI 7.5-22.3]; p<.01).

Women are more likely to retain a PPIUD after CD compared to a VD (p<.01); however, women who have a PPIUD placed after CD are more likely to have nonvisible strings with a pelvic exam (p<.01) and undergo pelvic ultrasound evaluation (p<.01) compared to a PPIUD placed at the time of a VD.