FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Julia Smith RN
August 11, 2009 (919) 656-8204

TUBAL REVERSAL SURGEONS REVERSE ESSURE PROCEDURE
Implantation technique allows for successful reversal of sterilization procedure

(CHAPEL HILL, NC) – Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, announces the successful completion of sterilization reversal of the Essure procedure, previously considered a permanent form of female birth control.

More than 115,000 women worldwide have undergone sterilization with the Essure device since 2002. The Essure procedure involves placing a small, flexible plug into each fallopian tube at the junction of the uterus and the tube. Once in place, over a 3-month period, scar tissue grows into the micro inserts blocking the tubes to prevent the sperm from fertilizing the egg. The permanent nature of the procedure is related to this scarring and the previous belief that tubal ligation reversal surgery would be impossible.

The procedure Dr. Gary Berger and Dr. Charles Monteith use to reverse the Essure method involves cutting the device out of the uterine muscle and then implanting the remaining fallopian tube segment into the uterine cavity through a new opening in the uterus. This procedure is called tubouterine implantation. The reason the Essure device is removed is that part of the metal spring projects into the uterine cavity. If a pregnancy were to occur with the device in place, this could be harmful to the pregnancy.

Since the Essure has only been available since 2002 – and most women who have had this sterilization procedure do not desire or seek reversal – there is currently not enough data on the outcomes of Essure reversal to provide pregnancy statistics. However, the tubal reversal surgeons at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center have performed the tubouterine implantation procedure hundreds of times for other situations and the success rate in those cases has been 25% -50% depending on the amount of healthy tube remaining and the age of the patient.

Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is the only facility in the United States that is limited specifically to the practice of tubal reversal surgery. Additional information regarding tubal reversal surgery at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, including profiles for Dr. Berger and Dr. Monteith, can be found on the website at www.tubal-reversal.net.

More about Reverse Essure Procedure

Interview with Dr. Charles Monteith
Tubal Reversal Surgeon at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center

Charles Monteith, M.D. speaks about his education, training, and certifications. Dr. Monteith says he currently performs tubal reversals eight to twelve a week and the reasons women mention for wanting to have their tubes reversed. He says these include a new partner, or people have just changed their minds and decide they want to have more children. He adds a lot of women have experienced changes in their bodily functions after tubal ligation, and that patients refer to this as Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome.

Transcript of Video Interview With Dr. Monteith

Interviewer: Can you tell us about your medical school and residency training?

Dr. Monteith: I went to medical school in San Francisco, University of California in San Francisco and finished my MD degree there and then subsequently returned to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to do my obstetrics and gynecology residency.

Interviewer: How long have you been performing reproductive surgery?

Dr. Monteith:I have been performing Gyn. surgery since 1997 but as of a year and a half ago dedicated myself exclusively to working with Dr. Berger and doing tubal reversal surgery.

Interviewer: And before you started working with Dr. Berger did women frequently ask for tubal reversal procedures was that something that something that came in your practice prior?

Dr. Monteith: As a generalist I did not see a lot of women that requested tubal surgery. However, our practice was a majority of young pregnant women. So I didn’t get a fair assessment of how many women were out there that wanted to have tubal ligations reversed. However I did have a partner that did perform exclusive GYN services she fairly often had requests or inquiries about tubal reversal surgery.

Interviewer: What made you pursue a certification in tubal reversal?

Dr. Monteith: I think I had had practiced high risk obstetrics and gynecology for a good seven years after I finished my residency and just one day I realized I needed to change what I was doing or I wasn’t going to last very long doing it. The way medicine has become is very high volume very stressful and little time with patients. I felt like I really wasn’t helping people to the best of my ability. Patients would come they would go. They would their insurance and have to go find another provider. People would come with job movement in the middle of pregnancy or leave in the middle of pregnancy and I just found that I didn’t get a lot of personal fulfillment out of it. I especially like my role as a tubal reversal provider because I like I’m being with a physician is supposed to be. I’m using my skills to help people to the best of my ability. And I especially feel because it’s not a widely offered service that I’m doing even better for a lot of women.

Interviewer: How many reversals do you perform each week?

Dr. Monteith: On average about eight to twelve a week currently.

Interviewer: What are some of the reasons women mention for wanting to have their tubes reversed?

Dr. Monteith: It seems like the most common reason is basically none of us can predict the future and most commonly it seems women find themselves in new relationships. Usually it is bad marriages, separations and divorce. And they find themselves with a new partner and just very strongly they would like to have children together. A close second to that would be to people that have just changed their minds and decide they want to have more children. And then a lot of women have experienced changes in their bodily functions after tubal ligation.

Interviewer: Are you referring to Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome?

Dr. Monteith- Ah yes, what most patients refer to as Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome.

Interviewer: And how frequently do you hear that as a condition that women feel they have developed?

Dr. Monteith- We hear it very commonly. There are probably a lot of women who come through here that never voice it or share it. But, at least in my experience here, I see a patient at least once a day if not every other day that has experienced worsened menstrual symptoms or bodily functions after a tubal ligation procedure.

Interviewer: And how much follow-up or are you able to follow-up after the surgery to see if that has improved?

Dr. Monteith: I am in the process of doing that now. Last year, we did a small case study on five women that had tubal ligations and experienced Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome. This summer it will be a full year and thus far in talking with them it seems at least about 70% of them have gotten better. Very frequently I am amazed that women post on the message board how much improvement they feel after they have reversal surgery.

Interviewer: How much contact do you have with patients after their reversal surgery?

Dr. Monteith: Most patients come from long distances so there is not a lot of direct contact but the most amazing thing is our tubal reversal patients seem to keep close contact by email and through electronic means. So, we hear from a large number of our patients.

Interviewer: What’s the best part of tubal reversal surgery and what you’re doing currently?

Dr. Monteith: The best part is really just using my skills to help a woman, a couple or a family to achieve what they would otherwise not be able to achieve and that is to add more children to their family or their relationship. Or to improve their perceptions about their body.

Interviewer: What do you like about Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center?

Dr. Monteith: The thing I like the most about this center and I come from my experience of working a large university and also from working at a large good quality hospital in Raleigh is that this center works with amazing efficiency. We take great care of patients. The staff seems to be real happy and motivated. And we are all dedicated to doing just one thing and that’s tubal surgery. And it feels good to work in a place with such high efficiency for the betterment of patients.

Interviewer: How does Chapel Hill compare to the in patient care of a hospital?

Dr. Monteith: There about the same as some of the best hospitals I have worked at and probably even better. Mainly because we are all focused on one thing and the staff really knows their jobs. And we are all dedicated to making that one goal happen, and that’s safe outpatient tubal repair surgery.

More Information about Dr. Monteith

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Julia Smith RN
December 14, 2008 (919) 656-8204

TUBAL REVERSAL  CENTER  DOES ITS PART TO ADDRESS TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES
Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center lowers tubal surgery fees during the holiday season

(CHAPEL HILL, NC) – Julia Smith, RN, Nurse Administrator at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, today announced company plans to address the impact of the economic downturn on health care costs. Plans include a significant reduction in tubal surgery fees over the next two months to allow couples to move forward with less financial and emotional stress to have surgical procedures that correct tubal blockage.

Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is dedicated to the practice of tubal ligation reversal surgery. Patients travel from across the United States and around the world for reconstructive tubal surgery with Dr. Gary Berger and Dr. Charles Monteith and the specialized procedure can carry a considerable price tag. However, with the reduced price structure, patients will be offered three fee options, Ms. Smith explained.

1) The standard fee is $6900. With this fee, patients can schedule an appointment and hold a date with a $250 down payment and the balance paid three weeks prior to the surgery date.

2) Between December 15, 2008 and February 1, 2009, surgery can be scheduled with Dr. Berger for a fee of $5400 or with Dr. Monteith for $4900. The discounted fees are due at the time a patient schedules the appointment and surgery must be performed no later than February 15, 2009.

The fees offered by Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center are all-inclusive and cover the doctors’ professional fees, the anesthesiologist’s fee, supplies, operating room charges and facility fees, initial consultation with the surgeon and follow-up by phone and e-mail. The company also offers a pre-payment plan for patients interested in long-term payment arrangements. With the pre-payment option, patients can pre-pay the surgical fee without interest prior to the surgery date. To utilize the option, a non-refundable $250 fee is paid to open an account and patients may then make payments of any amount as they are able – for as long as they wish. For discounted fees to apply, the balance must be paid in full prior to scheduling surgery.

“A woman’s natural fertility rate decreases as she ages, so it is best to move forward sooner rather than later when it comes to reproductive procedures,” Ms. Smith explains. “We hope our reduced fee options will allow women to proceed with surgery to restore their fertility without the added stress of waiting until the economy recovers.”

Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

More about Tubal Surgery