Female sterilisations with Filshie clips: what is the risk failure? A retrospective survey of 30,000 applications.

OBJECTIVE To assess the failure rate of Filshie clip sterilisations in Victoria, Australia. DESIGN Retrospective study between 1994 and 1998. SETTING All specialist gynaecologists practising in the state of Victoria, Australia. INTERVENTIONS Questionnaires (up to three) followed by telephone calls if necessary. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A response rate of 276/277 (99.6%) was obtained. All pregnancies were recorded. RESULTS Seventy-three failures were notified from an estimated 30,000 Filshie clip sterilisations carried out in the study period. CONCLUSIONS The estimated failure rate of Filshie clip sterilisations in the state of Victoria carried out by specialist gynaecologists was between 2 and 3 per 1000 sterilisation operations.