Background: Intra-uterine device (IUD) for contraception is a modern long acting reversible contraceptive. Though it is one of the commonly used contraceptives generally, it is not without its problems. It could sometimes be “missing”(missing IUD), hence this study.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and management of missing IUD at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt.

Materials and Methods: The study was a 10 year review of hospital records of all women with missing IUD, who visited the family planning clinic of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital from January 1^st 2007 to December 31^st 2016. Data was analyzed using version 23.0 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software. Descriptive statistics was conducted and summarized as means and standard deviations for continuous variables, and as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables.

Results: Of the 25,014 clients who presented for contraceptive at the family planning clinic of the UPTH during the study period, 5054 (20.2%) used IUD. Of the IUD users, only 25(0.49%) had missed IUD. Insertion was done in tertiary care centre in 92% of the clients with missing IUD. All the clients who had missing IUD presented with missing string, were diagnosed clinically and alligator forceps used for retrieval. None of the clients with missing IUD had any complications from its management.

Conclusion: The prevalence of missing IUD for contraception in the UPTH is 0.49%. The   diagnosis of this condition is clinical and its retrieval simple and safe. This suggests that the insertion of IUDs done by skilled personals is safer and management of the missing cases less likely to be complicated.   

Keywords: Intrauterine device for contraception, missing, UPTH, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

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Oranu Emmanuel

Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fertility Regulation and Reproductive Unit

University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria