&NA;Female sterilization by laparoscopy has become widely accepted throughout the United States and Europe. The failure rate of this procedure is still speculative. In the course of 4200 operative sterilizations, 32 failures have been identified and 31 of these have been subsequently evaluated. The most common finding was inadequate or superficial fulguration and resection. Operative errors such as round ligament fulguration were also more common than expected.