Five years' experience of intrauterine contraception with the Nova-T and the Copper-T-200.
A randomized study was performed for the comparison of two copper-releasing intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs), the Nova-T and the Copper-T-200, simultaneously in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Five years' experience demonstrated that Nova-T users had a significantly lower pregnancy rate than Copper-T-200 users. The Pearl index over 5 years was 0.8 for Nova-T users and 2.0 for Copper-T users. The performance and tolerance of the Nova-T were less affected by parity and age than was the performance of the Copper-T. Infections were treated by removal of the device and with antibiotics. The cumulative rate of removals because of infections and suspected infections was below 5 with both devices over 5 years. The copper wire in the Nova-T has a silver core which prevents corrosion-induced fragmentation of the wire. Hence, the effective lifetime of this device is more than 5 years. The results indicate that the Nova-T, which is easy to insert and remove and is associated with a low pregnancy rate and a low medical termination rate, is a real improvement over other IUDs.
D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007434:Intrauterine Devices / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000592:standards*; D007435:Intrauterine Devices, Copper / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000592:standards*; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D013997:Time Factors; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology