Tubal Reversal Pregnancy Study Report 2007

Study Method

Notice of Study Update

The following is Dr. Berger's report from 2007. The corresponding sections in an updated report can be seen in the Tubal Reversal Pregnancy Study 2009 - Study Method.

Prospective Study

This is a prospective observational study of 3,139 women who had tubal reversal surgery from January 2001 through December 2005 at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center - an outpatient facility exclusively for tubal ligation reversal. A reproductive surgeon, Dr. Gary Berger, performed all of the operations. Staff nurses collected follow-up information throughout the study period regarding pregnancies and their outcomes. This was achieved through ongoing communications with patients as well as routine patient follow-ups at 6 and 12 months after surgery. Patients were asked to notify the Tubal Reversal Center staff when a pregnancy occurred by completing an online Pregnancy Report Form. Information was recorded in an electronic patient database. The present statistical analysis included all pregnancies reported to the Center during the study interval ending December 31, 2006. This ending period was chosen to allow for a minimum follow-up of 1 year after surgery for all patients. Patients who were lost to follow-up prior to 1 year were included in the analysis with their status as known at the time of last contact.

Tubal Reversal Techniques

Dr. Berger performed the tubal reversal operations using outpatient mini-laparotomy surgical and anesthetic techniques that reduce tissue injury, blood loss, anesthesia time, postoperative pain, and recovery time. Dr. Berger explains the advanced techniques that he has developed in a video recording of the surgery entitled Outpatient Tubal Reversal. This video has been shown on “The Operation” television series broadcast on Discovery,The Learning Channel (TLC), and the CBS Early Show.

The tubal reversal operations for these 3139 women were the following:

bilatateral tubotubal anastomosis (2808)
unilateral tubotubal anastomosis (255)
ampullary salpingostomy (19)
tubouterine implantation (13)
tubotubal reanastomosis (17)
combined procedures (27)

Tubal Reversal Pregnancy Rates

During the follow-up study interval after tubal reversal surgery, 2,775 pregnancies were reported by 1,889 women. In order to analyze all pregnancies and their outcomes, each pregnancy was considered an individual case. The total number of cases was 4,025 (2,775 pregnancies plus 1,250 patients not yet pregnant at the time of last contact).