Tubal Ligation Reversal
Patients who desire pregnancy after undergoing a tubal ligation (“having their tubes tied”) are often faced with a difficult decision regarding treatment options.
While many fertility clinics offer in vitro fertilization (IVF) as the only hope for such women, Veritas Fertility & Surgery provides tubal ligation reversal, also called tubal anastomosis. With this procedure, Dr. Puthoff reopens and reconstructs the fallopian tubes, which restores a woman’s fertility, allowing her to become pregnant again on her own – without IVF.
A tubal reversal procedure is both more effective and less costly than IVF. In nearly all cases, women who have a tubal reversal can undergo a successful procedure, with one or both tubes being successfully reopened, able to function normally. Overall, women who undergo a tubal reversal have a 70-75% chance of achieving a pregnancy, although the chances of success can vary depending on other factors, such as a woman’s age or the length of the fallopian tubes after the procedure.
Dr. Puthoff performs tubal ligation reversals using two different techniques:
Robot-assisted tubal ligation reversal
- Minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure using the DaVinci robot
- Better option for patients who may have pelvic adhesions, endometriosis, or other medical conditions
- Performed at Mercy Hospital
- Slightly more costly
Tubal ligation reversal via mini-laparotomy
- Performed through a 3-4 inch “bikini incision”
- Better option for patients who are not overweight and who likely do not have endometriosis or other conditions which can cause pelvic scar tissue
- Performed at St. Louis Multispecialty Surgery Center
- Slightly less costly
The success rate of each type of tubal reversal procedure is the same since Dr. Puthoff employs the same microsurgical techniques to reconstruct the fallopian tubes in each procedure.