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Abstract
The recovery of fertility after discontinuation of NORPLANTR implant use was assessed in ninety women who stated a desire for a new child at the
time of removal. Three subjects were lost to follow-up after removal. The cumulative
probability of conception in the remaining 87 women was 25, 49, 73 and 86 percent
at one, three, six and twelve months after removal, respectively. Nine observations
were censored either because of the use of a contraceptive method soon after removal
of the implants (n = 7) or separation (n = 2). All other cases were pregnant at the
end of two years with exception of three subjects where a male factor for infertility
was present. There was no significant correlation between the length of NORPLANTR use and the length of the interval from removal to conception. A significantly higher
frequency of intervals longer than 6 months was observed among women older than 30
years as compared to younger women. Pathology during pregnancy was cholestasia (n
= 5), hypertension (n = 1) and gestational diabetes (n = 1). The outcome was term
delivery in 59 cases, premature delivery in 4 cases, and spontaneous abortion in 7
cases. One woman is still pregnant and the outcome is unknown in 4 cases. One premature
infant died. A contemporary control group of Copper Tusers enrolled under the same
criteria as NORPLANTR implant users provided 44 women who had the device removed to become pregnant. The
cumulative probability of pregnancy was 27, 69, 84 and 89 at one, three, six and twelve
months and all were pregnant by the end of the second year. Six censored observations
occurred because of the use of another contraceptive method after removal (n = 3)
or loss to follow-up (n = 3). The outcome of pregnancy was term delivery in 23 cases
and abortion in 7 cases. Recovery of fertility occurred at a normal rate after NORPLANTR implant removal and the incidence of problems detected in the ensuing pregnancy were
within the expected range for Chilean women.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 29,
1987
Received:
May 26,
1987
Footnotes
*This work was undertaken as part of the contraceptive development program sponsored and coordinated by the International Committee for Contraceptive Research of The Population Council, Inc., New York, New York.
Identification
Copyright
© 1987 Geron-X, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc.
