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IVF vs. Tubal Reversal - Factors to Consider in Making a Choice

July 14th, 2008 · No Comments

pregnancybyline’>by Sandra Wilson

If you had your tubes tied but have decided you want another child, your doctor will probably suggest doing the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process. But there is an. That alternative is a tubal reversal. Should you have one? Let’s check out IVF vs. tubal reversal to see what might be best for you.

First, you need to understand that a tubal reversal is a surgical procedure. The surgeon will access your fallopian tubes. Hopefully, you will have carefully checked out the available surgeons and chosen a very experienced one who does the procedure on an outpatient basis such as Dr. Berger of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. There is little you will need to do to get ready for the surgery other than having your surgeon review the tubal ligation operative report. It’s best to check with the surgeon you choose to understand just what preparation you do need, however minimal.

Now let’s look at IVF in comparison. There are a lot of drugs that you have to get in order to stimulate your body’s egg production and also to keep it from going into ovulation prematurely. You will need to go to your doctor daily for a few days to receive each shot at the right time. Most require a few visits to complete the course for the drug. This is just the preparation part.

Now your doctor gets to remove the eggs…or does he? Well, yes, but not before another injection just before ovulation. Your doctor will also be monitoring you to make sure he can catch the eggs before they being their journey to your uterus. He will use a needle to capture the eggs that your body has been overstimulated to produce. Seems like you are to be around a lot of needles.

Now, comes the part you have been taking all those shots for. You will have the fertilized eggs implanted into your body. This will happen after some time in the lab where the fertilization and the beginning development of the embryo takes place. You will most likely get more than one fertilized egg, which actually has begun developing into an embryo, placed back into your uterus. One possibility with the remaining embryos is to have them frozen for when this cycle does not give you the hoped for result of a pregnancy. You will get more injections at this point as well.

Your chances of success will depend upon many things. Did the doctor do a careful and carefully placed implantation meaning is he experienced enough? However, all the eggs that were not implanted can be frozen for a future implantation…if you want to go through all the shots and what they do to you again. There will be added risks to you and your child by using IVF. You will want to do some research online to make sure you are aware of these.

Add to all of the above the success rates of each individual course of treatments. Depending upon where you look it is from a 10 - 30% chance you will get pregnant. Higher percentages for more embryos being implanted.

Now compare all that and all the things left out of this article due to space limitations and you will see that having a tubal reversal could be a much better option. The success rates for tubal reversal can vary depending upon your chosen surgeon. This makes choosing the best tubal reversal doctor and center a matter of utmost importance. At the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center where they publish their specific pregnancy rates after a tubal reversal, you will see that it is an overall 69%. Your potential success rate will depend upon several things including your age, tube length left and type of ligation procedure used. The good news is that once the surgery is done, you get to try over and over again to “make a baby” without having to pay any more money.

So let’s look at the cost of IVF vs. tubal reversal. One course of IVF treatments will average $10,000 to $12,000 with some going as high as $20,000. That’s just one cycle. On average, doctors will tell you to expect to go through at least three cycles. On the other hand, the average cost of a tubal reversal is $8,000 to $9,000 and you will find that, too, can go up to $20,000 or higher. Don’t pick one of those later surgeons costing that much. You can see that it usually is much cheaper to go with tubal reversal rather than IVF

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