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.
If you have done any looking around you may already know that success after reversing your tubal will generally depend upon three things provided you are healthy otherwise. Those three major determining factors are the method used to tie your tubes, what your age is at the time of the reversal and what length of tubes are left after any damage has been removed and the tubes sutured back together.
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.
Looking at the length of the fallopian tubes left after removal of any damaged tube portions and the anastomosis, you will find the longer the tube, the higher the rate of success. Women with a 7.5 cm or longer tube had a 80% chance of becoming pregnant while women with less than 2.5 cm of tube left had about a 38% chance.
One more statistic I feel I should present in all fairness is that you do have an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy after tubal reversal success. However, this is only 10%. You should take it into consideration.
These statistics should give you some good information about tubal reversal success to base any decisions you need to make on. Using the following resources will indubitably answer the rest of your questions and allow you to dig further into the statistics.
