RESUMO
PIP: A sample of 1003 records of surgical sterilizations was studied from among the 9400 performed between July 1972-June 1982 at a university hospital in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. 12 patients were aged 15-19, 104 were 20-24, 244 were 25-29, 291 were 30-34, 267 were 35-39, and 85 were 40-45. Not all patients met the recommended conditions of being at least 25 years old and/or having at least 3 pregnancies. 11.6% of the patients were sterilized because of psychiatric problems, multiparity, 2 previous cesarean sections or on request of the spouse. 95.5% of the women were married, 2.1% were single, 1.6% lived in free union and .8% were widowed. 14.0% were illiterate, 57.7% had incomplete primary educations, 19.3% had completed primary school, 2.5% had incomplete secondary or technical schooling, and .3% had professional studies. 27 women had had 0-2 pregnancies, 336 had 3-5, 336 had 6-8, 198 had 9-11, and 106 had 12 or more. The maximum number of pregnancies was 20 and the average was 7.1/woman. 6 women had preoperative hemoglobin levels of 6.0 g or less, 12 had 7.0 g, 44 had 8.0, 119 had 9.0 g, 756 had 10.0, and 566 had 11.0 g or higher. Transfusions were given to all women with less than the minimum level of 10.0 g. 460 of the operations were postpartum, 334 were transcesarean, and 209 were interval procedures. 696 operations were done by the Pomeroy method, 52 by modified Pomeroy, 27 by fimbriectomy, 16 by salpingectomy, and 2 by the Uchida method. Among laparoscopic methods, 82 were done by cauterization and 128 with Yoon rings. 392 postpartum and 286 transcesarean operations were performed using the Pomeroy technique, while 82 interval sterilizations were done using cauterization and 107 using Yoon rings. Epidural anesthesia was used in 457 postpartum and 325 transcesarean procedures, while general anesthesia was used in 175 interval sterilization. There were few transoperative complications. There were 2 cases of failure to achieve salpingoclasy, 4 cases of hemorrhage, 1 case of burning of the visceral wall, 1 case of anesthetic accident, and 12 cases of other complications. Among postoperative complications there were 15 cases of abdominal pain, 1 each of fever and infection, and 1 of other complication. There was 1 pregnancy among the 1003 cases. All the procedures were performed by physicians in training.^ieng