PIP: Ectopic pregnancies following IUD insertion have been on the increase in recent years. This article reports an analysis of 96 cases of ectopic pregnancies including 60 users who were diagnoses and treated between March 1986 and March 1989 in a hospital in China. The analysis has also raised questions about the benefit of the IUD as a method of contraception. The increasing number of ectopic pregnancies among IUD users was believed to be associated with several factors. First, the irritation of the fallopian tubes caused by the presence of the IUD in the uterine cavity may prevent the egg from going into the uterus. Second, the IUD can only prevent intra-uterine pregnancy, not ectopic pregnancy. Third, bacteria brought in through IUD insertion may cause fallopian tube infection which increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy. THis risk among IUD users is 2.94-4.5 times that in non-users. In this study, it was found that the risk of ectopic pregnancy was 1.6 times higher for IUD users than for non-users. The occurrence of ectopic pregnancy was much higher among parous women than among nulliparous women and generally fell within four years of IUD insertion. 5% of conceptions among IUD users occurred in the ovaries. This could be due to the reversed direction of tubal movement caused by changed prostaglandin levels as a result of IUD insertion. The ectopic pregnancies could be easily overlooked or misdiagnosed because of the IUD presence. As IUD is one of the most widely used methods of contraception, more attention should be given to the risk of ectopic pregnancy among IUD users.