Which Is the Best to Untie Tubes - IVF vs. Tubal Reversal?

To untie tubes that have been blocked in some manner, there are usually two choices for a woman who wishes to have a pregnancy, in vitro fertilization (IVF) or tubal reversal. But you will want to know how to compare IVF vs. tubal reversal in order to untie tubes.

The items of comparison for most women in IVF vs. tubal reversal center around price tag, how fast you will know whether the option succeeded, what you have to go through, and how well the option does in having women become pregnant. Fortunately, this information can be found for the looking on the Internet.

In a search for information on IVF, let's turn to the Center for Disease Control's study which you can find at their site. The information we will cover here is in section 2 which covers questions on IVF with fresh non-donor eggs or embryos.

To determine your chances of getting pregnant through IVF you will find that "the national average success rate was slightly more than 28%". Another place within the study results does indicate that "slightly more than 34% resulted in clinical pregnancy". Two percent of those ended in miscarriage without being able to tell if the pregnancy was single or multiple. And while a woman may actually know if an IVF cycle works within 4-5 weeks after implantation, these are rather low success rates.

In addition, a woman undergoing IVF vs. tubal reversal will herself undergo a cycle of treatment of two to four weeks requiring daily injections. There is a whole course of drugs required under IVF. Some of the possible side effects include hot flashes, headaches, mood swings, night sweats and the rare case of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome which is life threatening.

Retrieval of the eggs produced by the superovulation phase of an IVF cycle is done by a minor surgical procedure with sedation to provide pain relief. This last is included for those who shy away from tubal reversal because it is a surgical procedure. After the eggs are removed, progesterone is given for two weeks or longer in order to support the lining of the uterus to assist in implantation.

In comparison to IVF, tubal reversal is a surgical procedure with a duration of approximately one hour in the hands of an experienced tubal surgeon. When done as an outpatient procedure at a clinic such as the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, the patient is free to go to the hotel or home within a couple hours following the surgery. After an examination by the doctor or nursing staff the next morning, the patient can return home. Recovery is usually fairly fast with some women returning to work at a desk job within a few days. No heavy lifting should be done for a month but this is the same for any abdominal surgery.

In doing an IVF vs. tubal reversal comparison, it can be hard to find information on success rates. Returning to CHTRC, however, we find that they conducted a study using their own patients. They found that pregnancies ranged from 41% to 82% depending upon the age of the woman with those over 40 having the lowest success rate. This compares to a 23% success rate for women over 40 for IVF.

When it comes to the cost of IVF vs. tubal reversal, let's use an article from CNN. It says that one IVF cycle is $10,000 on average. You should understand by now with the success rate of IVF that usually a woman choosing this option will require more than one cycle with the additional cost per cycle.

Tubal reversals average $8,000 to $9,000, though you will find surgeons, especially your local doctor who only does the surgery once or twice every couple years, will charge more, much more. The good news is that the leading tubal surgeons will untie tubes for less than $6,000. The bad news about tubal reversal is that it may take a year or more before you know whether the surgery was a success or not. But each time you try to get pregnant, there is no one to charge you more money.

Learn more about the choice of IVF vs. tubal reversal to untie tubes blocked by tubal ligation or involuntarily through disease like pelvic inflammatory disease.