[Contraception by subcutaneous Norplant implants. 300 cases].

It is a prospective study for the evaluation of the efficiency and the acceptability of Norplant contraceptive subdermal implants within the Senegalese female population. Three hundred women were selected on the basis of precise criteria between December 1986 and July 1991. Every patient included in the study signed a form of voluntary consent with the agreement of the consort, and was bound to come to control examinations until the removal of the implants. The insertion was made under local anaesthesia between the 1st and the 7th day of the cycle, or starting from the 6th week of post-partum in the other cases. The average age of patients was 32, and the average parity four children. 50 percent of women did not want any other children. The average insertion time is 4.8 minutes. The analysis of side-effects on 248 regularly followed women mostly reveals menstrual troubles like amenorrhea, spottings, menorrhagia. The fitful local prurigo was noted in 35 cases, and accidental pregnancy in 4 cases. The removal of implants within the first six months was made on 11 women (4.4%). As such, the Norplant implants constitutes a highly efficient method, well tolerated by Senegalese women.