Early readmission following elective laparoscopic sterilization: a brief analysis of a rare event

This study examines some potential factors that are associated with occasional readmission soon after discharge for laparoscopic sterilization--a generally innocuous outpatient procedure. Thirty-six early readmissions among 22,000 cases of laparoscopic sterilization (an incidence rate of 1.6 per 1,000 procedures) in an international data set were investigated. Early follow-up (7 to 21 days after sterilization discharge) was 95%. The complications that led to readmission were of a more serious nature (e.g., intestinal burn/injury) among women sterilized by electrocoagulation (all unipolar) than among women sterilized with clips. Among electrocoagulation cases, women who were sterilized less than 42 days postabortion or postpartum were significantly more likely to be readmitted than were women who had not recently been pregnant. All readmitted women were discharged in satisfactory condition. The mean overall hospital stay during readmission was 7.3 days--10.6 days for electrocoagulation, 5.6 days for tubal ring, and 2.1 days for clip cases. A case-control analysis did not reveal a significantly higher relative risk for readmission among women with previous abdominal operations than among those without.