Eight years with the same IUD

Comparison of two procedures for routine IUD exchange in women with positive Pap smears for actinomyces-like organisms

“…In our family planning clinic we used to remove the IUD during menstruation, performed a PAP smear 6 weeks later and inserted a new device if this smear was negative for ALOs. In accordance with many authors we found in all cases the PAP smear to be negative 6 weeks after IUD removal (14,15). However, although we spend a lot of time to instruct women for contraception during the two months interval without IUD several pregnancies occurred.…”

Actinomyces-like organisms in cervical smears: the association with intrauterine device and pelvic inflammatory diseases

“…We could not estimate the incidence of positive actinomyces-like organisms on the cervical smear in IUD users; however, many studies have reported that the incidence is markedly higher. Bonacho et al [7] reported that 5.9% of IUD users showed positive actinomyces-like organisms on the cervical smear, and Chatwani and Amin-Hanjani [8] reported 6.7% positivity in copper-IUD users and 13.3% to 22.2% in plastic IUD users. The incidence of actinomyces-like organisms was reported to be much lower in levonorgesterol-releasing IUD users than copper-IUD users [9].…”

‘Older’ age is a risk factor for pelvic inflammatory disease in intrauterine device users

“…Our findings suggest that long duration of IUD use is important in the development of PID, but as the duration correlates with age, the duration becomes a weaker factor than age in the analysis. Most studies on long usage of IUDs concern contraceptive effectiveness or the finding of Actinomyces (15–18). A few studies have reported that long duration of IUD use appears to increase the risk of PID and to complicate its clinical course, but those studies did not further analyze the role of IUD (8,19).…”