Choosing a tubal reversal surgeon

The most frequently asked question I receive involves choosing a tubal reversal surgeon. We know what a leap of faith it takes for a woman to travel across the country for surgery, so it is important to be well-informed as you make your decision.

Dr. Berger is the only physician in the country with a practice that is specifically limited to tubal reversal surgery. That is the only procedure we perform here with Dr. Berger performing four reversals each day, five days a week. We have a high staff/patient ratio with one or two nurses devoted specifically to your care while you are here. All of our nurses have advanced certification in cardiac life support (ACLS) and our anesthesiologists are MD's with board certification in anesthesia. The anesthesiologists are employees here and not anesthesia staff from another hospital or anesthesia service. So everyone here has expertise in caring for and performing reversal surgery. While you are here, you will only be with other women and couples who are here specifically for the same purpose.

We keep very detailed data and statistics on each of our patients (age, tube length, medical history, tube of tubal ligation, pregnancy history, etc.). This is obtained by daily contact with our patients to ensure we have accurate information regarding their surgery and their outcome. To the best of my knowledge, Dr. Berger is the only doctor with published data regarding outcomes following reversal surgery. On the Internet, claims about tubal reversal pregnancy rates are often made without supporting information or documentation - such as a description of the patient population, study method, and follow-up interval. Most Internet sites about tubal reversal do not provide any factual data at all. Any doctor may say that his patients have a particular success rate, but supporting 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. Without this detailed type of information, the accuracy of any claim of success rates should be questioned.

At Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, nurses enter information into an electronic patient database at the patient's registration, the surgical procedure, and from regular post-operative communications with our staff. If we have not heard from patients after their recovery from surgery, our nurses contact them at 6 and 12-month intervals. We know of no other doctor, hospital, or clinic that maintains such ongoing patient follow-up records after tubal reversal surgeries. I believe Dr. Berger's commitment to providing accurate, up-to-date data is reflected in the fact that he requires this time-consuming but important procedure to be followed so that valid information can be obtained. Each year we publish the results of our follow-up study, reflecting surgical and pregnancy outcomes. This is the most comprehensive study done to date of tubal reversal surgery and its resulting outcomes, showing that for the majority of women who have undergone a tubal ligation procedure and decide later they would like to have more children, tubal reversal surgery is a better option than in vitro fertilization (IVF).

I hope this information is helpful. If I can answer other questions or assist you in any way, please let me know. Dr. Berger is able to repair the tubes in 98% of cases, including those where the tubes have been cut and burned.

Sincerely,

Julia Smith, RN, ALNC
Nurse Administrator
Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center
T: 919-656-8204 F: 870-934-9211