Friday, January 16, 2009

Tubal Blockage - Is IVF or Tubal Surgery the Best Choice?

By Sandra Wilson

Did you know there is an alternative to IVF and that it is tubal surgery? Whether this type of an operation will work for you depends upon the reason for your infertility. However, you should definitely be aware that IVF is not the only recourse for infertility. Tubal surgery can be your answer instead.

What type of infertility problems does tubal surgery help with? One of the leading causes of infertility is tubal blockage of some type. Many times brought on by disease, the tubal blockage prevents the egg from reaching the uterus. Tubal surgery will remove the blockage.

Why would you consider tubal surgery over IVF? Using a couple articles, one from the New York Times and the other from CNN, as well as other resources, you should know that one cycle of IVF can cost you $10,000 to $12,000 or even more. This cycle can take anywhere from three to eight weeks while your body is being made to produce more than one egg at a time. These eggs are then retrieved, fertilized and hopefully implanted in your uterus.

While most women don't wait till their late 40s to want children, it does happen. In that case, you will also have to find an egg donor as well as do what is needed to prepare your body to carry the eggs, if they implant, to term.

But just because you get eggs somewhere else or you are able to use your own, doesn't mean you will actual become pregnant. The egg(s) have to implant themselves and remain so to term. Unfortunately, this usually doesn't happen on the first or even the second round of IVF. In fact the average number of cycles you have to go through for a successful pregnancy is three.

What is really bad is this means you will now need to pay for another cycle of IVF. Most women do not become pregnant on the first try. You can figure out the costs and related health impact yourself.

On the other hand, tubal surgery can remove the parts of your blocked tubes that are causing your infertility. This is the same type of surgery that is done for women wanting to have a tubal ligation reversal, meaning they want to untie their tubes which they had "tied". The surgeon removes the part of the blocked tubes where the damage is and then reconnects the good healthy pieces back together.

So how good is the success rate of IVF to tubal surgery? Let's use the study Dr. Berger did on his tubal surgery patients. He had a success rate up to 87%. You can check out his site yourself to see the various factors that play into the success rate and how it varies. Looking at one cycle of in vitro fertilization, you will find that there is only a 30% success rate. As we said before, you usually have to go through more than one cycle of IVF and this is why making tubal surgery a much better option for women who have infertility due to tubal blockage.

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