MDNews Page 2

Outpatient Tubal Ligation Reversal

Fertility Restored Through One Hour Outpatient Surgery
Published in M.D.News Magazine

In addition to his primary focus on direct patient care, Dr. Berger has contributed to the medical literature with over 150 articles and numerous books on reproductive health, including one written for the public called The Couple's Guide to Fertility.

Stephanie and Clark in the Recovery Room 15 minutes after her surgery.

Dr. Berger uses microsurgery techniques through all phases of the operation (not just on the fallopian tubes) and pre-emptive local anesthetic injections at each step while the patient is asleep during the procedure. He carefully avoids soft tissue trauma that is a cause of post-operative pain, such as incising muscle or using mechanical retractors. Dr. Berger first reported the technique, effectiveness and safety of his procedure in 1992 in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.

Over the intervening years, through constant examination of every step in the procedure, Dr. Berger has reduced operating time, blood loss (5-10 ml), need for post-operative analgesics, and healing time before resuming normal activities (4-6 days vs. the usual 4-6 weeks). Minimizing operating and anesthesia time benefits the patient by reducing cost as well as post-operative complications. Dr. Berger has found that working with the same operating and anesthesia team on a daily basis facilitates efficiency, safety, and patient comfort during and after surgery.

Stephanie puts her pin in the map that shows where patients have come from in the last year.

Dr. Berger's studies have shown that the success of tubal reversal depends on several factors including the patient's age, type of sterilization that was performed, and lengths of healthy tubes remaining for repair. Rather than turning away a woman who might be deemed too old by others to have children, Dr. Berger believes that as long as she is still menstruating and has a normal serum FSH level she is a candidate for tubal reversal.

According to Tubal Reversal Nurse Patty Connelly, RN, patients may be referred by their doctor, but most are self-referred when they learn about Dr. Berger through the Internet or The Learning Channel broadcasts. "The starting point is having Dr. Berger review the operative report of their tubal ligation to see if tubal reversal surgery will be effective," she said. Dr. Berger's interpretation of the operative report is provided within 24 hours of receiving it. Besides pre-operative blood tests for the patient, a semen analysis is generally recommended for the partner if he has not yet fathered children. This can be performed in the Center's accredited andrology laboratory if it has not been done previously.

Dr. Berger's 2 decades of experience performing tubal ligation reversal as outpatient surgery shows the effectiveness and safety of the procedure. In a recent study of several hundred patients followed up for a year or more after tubal reversal, approximately 70 percent had conceived a pregnancy. The likelihood that one or both tubes may become blocked again after the anastomosis is approximately 5 percent. When one healthy tube is open, pregnancy can occur. Dr. Berger offers repeat surgery in appropriate cases, such as when both tubes are blocked and are off sufficient length and health, for a reduced fee.

• Home Page
• About Us
• Dr. Berger
• Dr. Monteith
• Pregnancy Statistics
• Tubal Reversal Blog
• Video & DVD
• VIP Questions
• Microsurgery
• I'm Pregnant
• Testimonials
• Ligation Illustrations
• Reversal Illustrations
• Cost
• Scheduling
• Forms to Send
• Preop Lab Tests
• Where to Stay
• FAQs
• Message Board
• Latest News
• Contact Us
• Feedback

Call (919) 968-4656 To Speak With a Tubal Reversal Nurse

Website updated July 5th, 2008 © Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center
109 Conner Drive Suite 2200, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (919) 968-4656