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.
First, you need to understand that a tubal reversal is a surgical procedure. The surgeon will access your fallopian tubes. Hopefully, you will have carefully checked out the available surgeons and chosen a very experienced one who does the procedure on an outpatient basis such as Dr. Berger of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. There is little you will need to do to get ready for the surgery other than having your surgeon review the tubal ligation operative report. It’s best to check with the surgeon you choose to understand just what preparation you do need, however minimal.
To undergo the IVF process, you will need to have a series of injections. Some will be subcutaneous which means just under the skin but some have to be put into the muscle. For each drug you get, you will have to go in each day for a few days to receive the shots. This is just to prepare your body such as stimulating it to produce more eggs at once than normal.
Next will be the removal of your eggs. Of course, the doctor will need to be sure of the right time to do so and will do this by monitoring to be sure to catch the eggs at the right time. Your system has been stimulated to produce many more eggs than normal. You will get another shot before ovulation is due. Then, when all is ready, the doctor will use a needle to remove the egg. Ouch again!
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.
Will all this be successful? That depends on several things which can include something as “simple″ as how careful your doctor is and whether or not he rushed the implant procedure and if he put the embryo in a good place. At any rate, you will need more injections now to help sustain things and make your chances better. With all these shots, you should be aware that there are some dangers not only to you but to your child as well, if you should be lucky enough to carry to term. Look around the web to see what the potential dangers are from IVF.
So what are your chances of a success on any one cycle of IVF? The figures vary depending upon such things as how many eggs were implanted, but the most common figures seem to be a 10% to 30% chance of pregnancy.
Now compare all that and all the things left out of this article due to space limitations and you will see that having a tubal reversal could be a much better option. The success rates for tubal reversal can vary depending upon your chosen surgeon. This makes choosing the best tubal reversal doctor and center a matter of utmost importance. At the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center where they publish their specific pregnancy rates after a tubal reversal, you will see that it is an overall 69%. Your potential success rate will depend upon several things including your age, tube length left and type of ligation procedure used. The good news is that once the surgery is done, you get to try over and over again to “make a baby” without having to pay any more money.
Finally is the cost comparison. A cycle of IVF is averaging $10,000 to $12,000 in the U.S. It can be as high as $20,000 though that goes for tubal reversals as well. However, chances are you will undergo more than one cycle of IVF. Doctors say to expect an average of three cycles. Add it up yourself. Now a tubal reversal will average $8,000 to $9,000 with some doctors charging much more. But you don′t have to undergo an average of three tubal reversals to get the job done. Taking this into account along with all the above and you can truly see the best answer in IVF vs. tubal reversal.
