[Request for reversal of tubal sterilization. Survey conducted by the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians].

A retrospective enquiry was carried out by the National College of French Gynaecologists and Obstetricians to try to specify more clearly indications and contra-indications for tubal sterilization in sixty centres. 377 requests were analysed over the years 1979-1980-1981. The average age of these women was 33 and the interval following sterilization was of a mean of 5 years. Remarriage is the main reason for asking. Those women most likely to ask for reversal of sterilization were patients who were sterilized when young or who had had only one or two children, or who had been sterilized during Caesarean operation. Half the requests for reversal could not be granted, usually because the techniques used for sterilization were too mutilating (40% of the patients could not be operated on); even if the sterilization is to be considered as final these techniques should not be used.