Eight-year Study Shows Tubal Reversal Surgery Results In Higher Pregnancy And Live Birth Rates And Is Less Costly Than IVF

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 15 Sep 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Dr. Gary S. Berger, Medical Director of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, released the most comprehensive study ever performed of tubal reversal surgery and its resulting outcomes. The Tubal Reversal Pregnancy Report 2009 involved more than 5000 women. The study report says that for the majority of women who have undergone a tubal ligation procedure and decide later they would like to have more children, tubal reversal surgery is a better treatment than in vitro fertilization (IVF).

"The one-hour outpatient tubal reversal procedure is more successful and costs less than half of the alternative and more popular treatment of IVF," said Dr. Berger.

"Many people, including doctors, mistakenly believe that tubal ligation is a permanent method of birth control," continued Dr. Berger. Tubal ligation reversal - a one-hour outpatient procedure - rejoins the separated segments of fallopian tube so that eggs can become fertilized and travel down the tubes to the uterus, allowing a pregnancy to occur naturally."

When the tubal reversal statistics from Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center were compared with the latest national IVF statistics, pregnancy and birth rates after tubal reversal were higher than after IVF in every age group.

The study involved 5.046 patients who underwent tubal reversal surgery by Dr. Berger from July 2000 through June 2008. This is the largest and most definitive study ever performed regarding the outcome of tubal reversal surgery.

At the conclusion of the study interval, 66 percent of the women in Dr. Berger' study had reported pregnancies. The pregnancy rate ranged from 80 percent for women under 30 to 31 percent for women 40 and older. The highest pregnancy rate (90 percent) was among women age under age 30 following reversal of a clip method of sterilization.

Dr. Berger, one of the pioneers of tubal reversal surgery, is a reproductive surgeon who specializes in and limits his practice to outpatient tubal ligation reversal.

Reference:
Tubal Reversal Pregnancy Study 2009 - Overview

Source
Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center