The ideal female sterilisation technique should be safe, easy to perform, done in the outpatient clinic, 100% effective and potentially reversible.
Female sterilisation has been a subject of great interest for centuries. Different methods and modalities have been devised:
- the transcervical approach has been studied for over 150 years, during which different methods and techniques have been adopted with varying results
- the advantages of hysteroscopic sterilisation include providing sterilisation in an outpatient setting and avoiding the risks of laparoscopic intervention, especially in high-risk populations, where it is particularly useful.
Other contraceptive methods are needed until tubal occlusion is confirmed by hCG, transvaginal ultrasound, contrast infusion sonography or plain abdominal X-ray.
The tables in the following pages outline sterlisation methods as well as the advantages and disadvantages for each: