SummaryCompartment syndrome in the legs is a rare complication of the prolonged use of the lithotomy position. We report two cases of compartment syndrome developing as a complication of the prolonged use of the Lloyd‐Davies position. Both patients received combined general and epidural anaesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia. The diagnosis was delayed in the first case, resulting in the avoidable complications of renal failure and permanent neuromuscular dysfunction.

The efficacy of transcervical insertions of quinacrine hydrochloride pellets to produce tubal occlusion has been evaluated in a study of 139 women in Santiago, Chile. At one year, the pregnancy rate was 3.1%, an acceptable rate for a nonsurgical method of female sterilization.

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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.

The safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic sterilization with electrocoagulation and separation of the tubes when performed within five days of a normal delivery is evaluated. The majority of patients (53.5%) were sterilized within 36 hours of delivery and were discharged on either the same day or the first post-sterilization day (91.0%). While some form of complications were reported for 9.5 percent of the patients, potentially serious complications occurred for only 2 patients (1.%). Most of the complications were probably unrelated to the laparoscopic procedure. At six months after sterilisation, complications were reported by 2.9 percent of the patients who returned for a follow-up visit. One patient became pregnant 3.5 months after sterilization. The results of this study suggest that performing laparoscopic sterilization in the immediate puerperium does not significantly increase the complication or failure rates of the procedure.