If you have had a tubal ligation there are two main treatments options to become pregnant - tubal reversal surgery or in vitro fertilization (IVF). At Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, tubal reversal surgery is done in a one-hour outpatient operation. The recovery time is about one to two weeks. The average cost is about $5000 to $6000. The main risk of tubal reversal surgery is ectopic pregnancy. The overall success of tubal reversal is 70 percent at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center.

The other treatment is in vitro fertilization or IVF. This is a medical treatment for infertility, which is typically done in a doctor's office. It can also be done in an outpatient surgical setting. A single cycle of in vitro fertilization takes several weeks. On average the cost is approximately $12,000. If donor eggs are used from a younger woman the costs can be increased. The average chance of success from a single cycle of IVF is approximately 30-35 percent. The main risk of in vitro fertilization is the risk of twins or triplets. I encourage the viewers of this video to visit the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC is a government organization which maintains an extensive database of public health. One section of their website is titled Assisted Reproductive Technology or ART. If you visit the ART section of the CDC website you can obtain unbiased information about in vitro fertilization technology. Data on IVF is collected from IVF centers across the United States. By looking at this data you can see that the average chance of success with a single cycle of in vitro fertilization is approximately 35 percent. If donor eggs from a younger woman are used the average chance of success is approximately 50%.

In most cases we have found that tubal reversal is more successful than IVF in obtaining pregnancy. IVF is designed to be an all-encompassing treatment for all forms of infertility. Most medical experts would agree to treat a primary disease or illness it is best to treat the primary cause for that disease or illness. For women that have tubal blockage as a result of tubal ligation reversal of this blockage is probably going to be the best way to become pregnant.

IVF does have its place. IVF can be better for women over the age of 40, but only if they use donor eggs. IVF can also be a better treatment if a woman has no fallopian tubes, if her tubes have been extensively damaged from an aggressive tubal ligation, if a woman has extensive abdominal or pelvic adhesions making surgery unsafe or there exist extensive conditions, which would also make outpatient surgery unsafe.

In general we have found that tubal reversal surgery provides higher success rates than IVF for most of our patients.