IVF vs. Tubal Reversal – Making Your Decision

Many women who have had a tubal ligation have been told it is a permanent form of birth control. When they change their minds about wanting another child, their doctors usually counsel having an in vitro fertilization or IVF. What these women usually don’t know is that tying their tubes can be reversed with an operation. So you are left wanting to know about IVF vs. tubal reversal and which is best.

A tubal reversal is a micro-surgical technique of repairing the fallopian tubes where they were cut. The preparation is minimal for the surgery including some review of your tubal ligation operative records. If you have a BMI greater than 30, it is suggested you get it down for your own surgical safety. You can check out this page to determine your BMI if you need to: www.tubal-reversal.net/body-mass-index-bmi.php

Now let’s look at IVF in comparison. There are a lot of drugs that you have to get in order to stimulate your body’s egg production and also to keep it from going into ovulation prematurely. You will need to go to your doctor daily for a few days to receive each shot at the right time. Most require a few visits to complete the course for the drug. This is just the preparation part.

Now your doctor gets to remove the eggs…or does he? Well, yes, but not before another injection just before ovulation. Your doctor will also be monitoring you to make sure he can catch the eggs before they being their journey to your uterus. He will use a needle to capture the eggs that your body has been overstimulated to produce. Seems like you are to be around a lot of needles.

Now, comes the part you have been taking all those shots for. You will have the fertilized eggs implanted into your body. This will happen after some time in the lab where the fertilization and the beginning development of the embryo takes place. You will most likely get more than one fertilized egg, which actually has begun developing into an embryo, placed back into your uterus. One possibility with the remaining embryos is to have them frozen for when this cycle does not give you the hoped for result of a pregnancy. You will get more injections at this point as well.

Your chances of success will depend upon many things. Did the doctor do a careful and carefully placed implantation meaning is he experienced enough? However, all the eggs that were not implanted can be frozen for a future implantation…if you want to go through all the shots and what they do to you again. There will be added risks to you and your child by using IVF. You will want to do some research online to make sure you are aware of these.

Before you make a decision to have IVF done, you should probably take a look at the success rates. Most commonly the success rates of any one cycle are given as 10 – 30% that you will be successful. You have a higher likelihood of success with more eggs implanted but don’t want to go overboard as that could lead to some problems as well. You will find that three embryos is about the max any doctor will implant.

You will need to learn more about IVF in order to make the best decision but you can see that a tubal reversal surgery just might be a better choice. Starting with success rates for tubal reversal you will find it varies with the doctor you choose. Actually most will only give you the industry wide statistics because they don’t collect their own nor know them. However, when looking at a center such as Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, you will find their success rates posted on their website. Overall the success rate for them for tubal reversals is 69%. Take a look at the charts to see where you with your specific circumstances fit in. But, barring any other problems, after the surgery you get to try and try again to conceive all for the same cost.

And that’s the last thing to cover. One session, or cycle, of IVF will cost on average $10,000 to $12,000 with most patients being told to expect to undergo at least three cycles. That’s like $30,000 or more. Some doctors charge even more. Now compare that to the average cost of a tubal reversal which is $8,000 to $9,000 in the U.S. So what do you think about IVF vs. tubal reversal now? Which choice will be the best for you?

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