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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2008

Chapel Hill Surgeon Completes First Tubal Reversal Fellowship

CHAPEL HILL – Dr. Charles W. Monteith completed the first tubal reversal fellowship offered at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. This is the only known fellowship of its kind.

Dr. Gary S. Berger, medical director and world-renowned tubal reversal surgeon, presented the certificate of completion in a private ceremony at the Chapel Hill center.

Monteith began his fellowship training in January 2008, and has assisted in more than 100 tubal reversal procedures under the guidance of Dr. Berger.

“Dr. Monteith’s experience as a gynecologic surgeon and his dedication to achieving the best patient care made him the ideal physician to complete this fellowship program,” said Berger. “He is the first doctor ever to be certified in outpatient tubal ligation reversal surgery. And I welcome him as a colleague at the Tubal Reversal Center.”

As a tubal reversal specialist, Monteith plans to keep tubal reversal surgery a viable option for women wanting to have another baby after tubal ligation surgery.

“I am very fortunate to have been invited into and accepted by the staff and family of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center,” Monteith said. “I feel like I have arrived home.”

Dr. Monteith graduated summa cum laude from Xavier University in Louisiana. He attended medical school at the University of California at San Francisco where he received a Howard Hughes Medical Research Fellowship used to conduct research in molecular genetics.

After completing his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he accepted a clinical assistant professor position with the department of obstetrics and gynecology in 2001. He also served as assistant professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Wake Medical Hospital in Raleigh for seven years where he practiced high-risk obstetrics and advanced surgical gynecology.

To learn more about Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, visit www.tubal-reversal.net.

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Contact information:
Lisa Hourmouzis, RN
919.968.4656 office
252.339.2322 mobile
LisaH@tubal-reversal.net