Preliminary analysis of a multicenter clinical trial using Multiload Cu 375SL for emergency contraception

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, side-effects and acceptability of the Multi-load Cu 375SL (MLCu 375SL IUD) used as emergency contraception (EC). Method: Women who requested EC had a MLCu 375SL IUD inserted within 5 days after unprotected intercourse. Results: Data from 515 subjects who completed the follow-up visits were ana lyzed. The majority were parous women (428, 83.1%). Most of the nulliparous women, 70 out of 87 (80.5%), had had a previous abortion. The efficacy rat e was 92.40%. Two pregnancies were detected at the follow-up visits. One of them was considered to be a user failure. There were no failures in insert ion procedure or no pelvic infections in either group. The common complaint s were pain and bleeding. The removal rate in the nulliparous group (14.9%) was significantly higher than in the parous group (3.5%). Conclusions: Insertion of a MLCu 375SL IUD within 5 days after unprotected intercourse provides an alternative emergency contraceptive method. It is m ore acceptable to parous women who plan to continue practicing contraceptio n. It is important to provide careful counselling to clients and to emphasi ze that the insertion of the IUD must be within 5 days after unprotected in tercourse in order to reduce the potential risk of pregnancy.