Tubal ligation - usually considered a permanent method of birth control - can be successfully reversed through one hour outpatient surgery. A recent prospective study of nearly 3000 women shows that most become pregnant and have more children after tubal reversal.

The study involved 2692 women who underwent tubal reversal surgery at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal between from 2001 through 2004 . The tubal reversal operations were performed by Dr. Gary Berger, the Center's Medical Director.

During the first year after tubal reversal surgery, 1,783 (65%) of the 2,692 women had reported pregnancies. The pregnancy rate after surgery ranged from 77% for women under 30 to 34% for women over 40 years of age and older. Women with longer tubal lengths had higher pregnancy rates than women with shorter tubes following tubal reversal. Women with tubal lengths 7.5 cm or longer had a pregnancy rate of 77%. The pregnancy rate declined as tubal length decreased, but even women with the shortest tubes (less than 2.5 cm) became pregnant (24%).

Long tubes were also associated with better pregnancy outcomes than short tubes. Among women with average fallopian tube lengths measuring 7.5 cm or longer, 59% gave birth or had an ongoing pregnancy. Birth rates declined while miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy rates increased with shorter tubal lengths. The ectopic pregnancy rate of 15% after tubal reversal was higher than the 2% ectopic pregnancy rate in the general population.

According to Dr. Berger, this study is significant in being the largest and most complete source of information about tubal reversal surgery that is currently available. He noted that information about tubal reversal surgery often lacks supporting documentation - such as a description of the patient population, study method, and follow-up interval. While a doctor may say that his patients have a particular success rate, documenting the claim with actual data involves considerable effort. Performing a follow-up study such as this one requires keeping an accurate record of patients and their findings, as well as maintaining ongoing patient contact to determine the outcomes of treatment. That is the only way a doctor can actually know what the pregnancy and outcome statistics are for his patients.

It is unusual for a doctor, hospital, or clinic that to maintain ongoing patient follow-up after surgery. At Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, nurses enter information into an electronic patient database at patient registration, the surgical procedure, and from follow-up contacts at 6 and 12 months after surgery in addition to regular post-operative communications with staff.