No abstract

Vaginal colonization by Candida spp. was compared in 117 women fitted with an intrauterine contraceptivc device (IUCD users) and in 100 women not wearing an IUCD (control group). None of the subjects had factors currently assumed to predispose to yeast colonixation or infection. Yeasts were present significantly more often in the lUCD users (20%) than in the control group (6%). In two of the 21 women with positive cultures the tail of the IUCD yielded substantially more colonies than the vaginal specimen and in seven, only the tail culture was positive. These findings strongly suggest that the IUCD is a predisposing factor in vaginal colonization by Candidu strains. In half the women the presence of yeasts in the vagina was not associated with signs and symptoms of clinical infection. Of the 29 yeast strains isolated 17 were C. albicans, there was no difference in the prevalence of C. ulbicans between IUCD user4 and non-users or between symptomatic and asymptomatic women.The occurrence of genital candidiasis in women seems to have increased during recent decades and many predisposing factors have been put forward to explain this trend (Odds 1979). The use of the intrauterinc contraceptive device (IUCD) i s not among these factors (Jacobson 1986), and a possible link between the IUCD and Cunrlida colonization or infection does not seem to have been investigated previously.

No abstract

Clinical evaluation of the Postpartum Nova-T or Nova-T-PP (a Nova-T IUD adapted for postpartum insertion) was based on 412 insertions and showed that this model--besides being effective and safe--had a low expulsion rate (7.2% at 1 year). To prove that the Nova-T-PP's low expulsion rate is indeed the result of its special design, a randomized trial was conducted to compare the Nova-T-PP with the parent model (Nova-T) when inserted within 10 minutes of delivery of the placenta. The result of this study (408 insertions, 203 of them Nova-T) indicate that there is no significant difference in expulsion rate between the two IUD models, suggesting that the addition of two extra arms to the original Nova-T model does not improve the retention of the adapted IUD model.

The Copper-Fix (Cu-Fix) is a thread-type copper-bearing device designed to overcome the most common IUD-related problems: bleeding and pain. Two distinctive features--virtual absence of a frame and provision of an anchoring system--make this new intrauterine device the first radical departure from current IUD technology. The Cu-Fix 390 was inserted at intervals in 382 women, and 4851 woman-months of experience had been accumulated at 18 months. The device was exceedingly well retained by the uterus (expulsion rate 0.6 at 18 months) and the removal rate for bleeding/pain was low (3.1 at 18 months). Serious complications did not occur; the pregnancy rate amounted to 0.3 at 18 months, with a continuation rate of 87.6%, which includes an 8.1% removal rate for pregnancy wish. Cardinal event rates were not influenced by the age or gravidity status of the recipient.