Hysteroscopic removal of intrauterine devices with missing filaments.

Ninety-one patients using intrauterine devices (IUD with nonvisible filaments on examination underwent hysterscopy for location and retrieval of the devices. These were among 320 patients who underwent hysterscopy for a variety of indications. All but 6 patients for whom additional surgery was planned were given local anesthesia. In 78 patients, the device was found within the uterine cavity and removed under hysterscopic control. In the remaining 13, no intrauterine device was observed. Six of these 13 patients had a translocated device which was removed either by laparoscopy or laparotomy. Hysteroscopy is proposed as a useful and effective method of diagnosis and management in ambulatory patients when the filaments of the IUD are absent.