What Factors Affect Tubal Reversal Success
As you learn about tubal reversal as a means of reversing having had your tubes tied, you probably want to know about the tubal reversal success rates. After all, the whole point of having a tubal reversal is to have a child. Well, for most women it is. Some just want relief of post tubal ligation syndrome.
So if you are one of those wanting to know about tubal reversal success, you will probably want to also know what success depends upon. A successful outcome depends upon three basic things. These are the method of tubal ligation, your age and the length of the fallopian tubes left after the surgery which, of course, depends upon what happened in your tubal ligation in the first place.
The only easily reached published source of information broken down by these three areas comes to us from the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center’s website. That being the case, we will use their statistics in the rest of this article. Just be aware these statistics are coming from a surgeon with the experience of having done over 7000 surgeries and who does them five days a week, up to four surgeries a day. You just aren’t going to get that kind of experience and success with some local do-it-once-a-year type of doctor.
Starting with the ligation method, you will see you have higher success rate if your tubes were tied using rings or clips. The next best method, in regards to a better pregnancy rate, is ligation/resection which is where part of the tube is removed. Coagulation, or burning of the tubes, brings a 56% pregnancy rate after tubal reversal leaving fimbriectomy or unknown surgeries as the last or least successful reversal method. Even at that, it is better than 50% which is better than you get at any shot of IVF.
As you might guess, your age plays a big role in your success as well. Face it. A 45 year old woman is just not going to have as good a chance as a 25 year old woman. This bears out in the tubal reversal success rates as well. If you are 29 or younger, your chances of getting pregnant are 82%. If you are 30 to 34, it’s 76% and at 35 to 39 it’s 67%, The statistics show if you are over 40, the success rates fall to 41% but you do need to know that a couple of women in their 50s are included in that last figure.
When viewing the length of your fallopian tubes, it comes down to the longer the better. If your tubes are at least 7 and 1/2 cm long after reversal surgery, then your chances of pregnancy are 80%. However, a woman that only has 2 and 1/2 cm or less to work with only has a 38% shot at success.
However, you should realize that becoming pregnant and staying that way are two different things. Also of note is that you have a 10% greater chance of having an ectopic pregnancy after having a tubal reversal. If you check out the statistics on this page, http://news.tubal-reversal.net/pregnancy-study-2007-pregnancy_outcomes.htm, you will be able to see how getting pregnant translated to actually having a child.
Hopefully this article will answer some of the questions you have about tubal reversal success. Just check out our resources below to look over the information for yourself.