What are the Risks Involved with Tubal Sterilization?

Each year in the USA around 700,000 women will opt to undergo the procedure known as tubal ligation or tubal sterilization to prevent them from getting pregnant. This surgical procedure stops a woman from becoming pregnant as it causes a blockage in her fallopian tubes. This in turn results in the released eggs from the ovaries being unable to reach the uterus and the sperm to be unable to reach the egg in the fallopian tube to fertilize it.

Today surgeons have several methods of tubal sterilization that they can perform. They can tie and/or cut the tubes. They can cauterize (burn) them. Assorted mechanical devices can be used such as rings, clips, Essure or even the latest Adiana device. But in most cases surgeons carrying out such procedures tend to sterilize women by doing a form of ligation and cutting known as the Pomeroy method.

Many of these women will have the procedure carried out after giving birth. The rest have it performed on an elective basis as a more permanent means of birth control rather than using The Pill. However, of these women there will be those who decide within a 5 year period that they would like it reversed. A tubal reversal is the surgical way to reverse a tubal ligation and to allow the chance of having a natural pregnancy again.

So perhaps this is the first risk involved with tubal sterilization. A woman may very well decide she wants a tubal reversal as a means of being able to conceive naturally again. She may even want a tubal reversal as a means to end post tubal ligation syndrome. While ptls is a risk of having your tubes blocked, there are several other articles written on the topic and we will not discuss it further here.

As with any kind of surgery, there are risks associated with tubal sterilization. Some women may suffer from side effects caused by the medication or anesthesia they are given. Others may find that they are having to deal with infections or heavy bleeding once the procedure has been carried out.

Additionally, any woman considering having her tubes tied should be aware there is a chance that she could actually become pregnant following it. In fact the odds aren't great but it does happen. A recent study of 10,000 women showed that 143 of them became pregnant after the surgery. That's a little more than 1 in 100. This is due to the fallopian tubes not being completely closed for some reason.

Women for whom the tubal sterilization was a failure also need to be made aware that if they do become pregnant there is a possibility that their pregnancy will be an ectopic one. This is a pregnancy where the fetus instead of being able to develop in the uterus develops in the fallopian tubes. This form of pregnancy is not only a danger to the mother but to her future children as well.

Your doctor will try to treat an unruptured tubal pregnancy with methotrexate. In the event that does not stop the development of the fetus or for another reason, then most likely the fallopian tube where the fetus is developing will have to be removed. This can lower a woman's chances of becoming pregnant as she will then have only one side to deliver the egg to the uterus. However, if you are lucky the circumstances will allow the surgeon to remove only a portion of the fallopian tube. This allows for a tubal reversal like surgery to repair the damage if you one day decide you do want more children.

Along with the problems we have mentioned above, there is another risk associated with tubal sterilization surgery which is it being carried out incorrectly. Damage may be caused to other organs within the woman's body and, therefore, it is crucial that the surgeon doing your surgery have plenty of experience of doing them. Ask him how many procedures he performs every year. One or two or even three should not give you a great deal of confidence. The same information regarding experience applies to a tubal surgeon who may perform your tubal reversal as well.

Those women who decide later to have their tubal sterilization revered need to understand that there are risks associated with the tubal reversal as well. It is surgery after all and the paragraph above about experience applies strongly. How successful the reversal operation is depends on many things including how much viable fallopian tube there is after the surgery as well as how old the woman is. Those women who have over 2.5 cm of viable fallopian tubes and under the age of 40 will find that they have a greater chance of conceiving naturally after the tubal ligation is reversed. Indeed their chances are better than those if IVF had been chosen.

Choose Dr. Gary Berger or Dr. Charles Monteith of the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center as your surgeon for the reversal of your tubal sterilization. Browse through their website and learn more about tubal reversal surgery as well as the statistics for conceiving a natural pregnancy after tubal ligation or other sterilization procedures. Learn more about the risks of having your tubes tied. Contact other women by way of the message board and find the support to meet your needs.