A two-year experience with the Falope ring sterilization procedure.

The use of cautery laparoscopic sterilization procedures has two major disadvantages: (1) occasional inadvertent thermal injury to organ structures other than the Fallopian tube and (2) the inability to limit the injury to the Fallopian tube in a manner that might allow subsequent reconstructive surgery. In an effort to avoid the use of thermal energy to effect female sterilization, the Falope ring laparoscope was developed. From October, 1973, through September, 1975, 4,390 sterilization procedures were completed employing this approach; 902 cases have been completed at the Woman's Clinic of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1,741 cases were completed by gynecologists in various cities in the United States, and 1,747 procedures were completed by physicians in various locations throughout the world sponsored by the International Fertility Research Program.