Why This Blog
This blog is to share observations, experiences, and thoughts about tubal ligation reversal developed over the 30 years I have been performing tubal surgery. Others are welcome to contribute their own ideas, opinions, and questions.
Gary S. Berger, M.D.
Medical Director
Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center
109 Conner Drive Suite 2200
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
November 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I think this tubal reversal blog will be very helpful to any woman considering tubal reversal surgery!
November 18th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Thank you, Julia. You are the first commenter on this blog!
November 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Dr. Berger, I receive e-mails from many potential patients who wonder why they should choose your services and Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center over other choices they read about on the internet. Can you explain why your procedure is more successful and more cost-effective than others out there?
November 24th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
One reason why my tubal reversal procedure is the most successful reversal operation is my experience over 30 years. I have performed close to 7000 outpatient tubal reversal operations. The adage “practice makes perfect” seems to apply to surgery, as to so many other disciplines.
Cost effectiveness is usually defined as the average cost required to achieve a specified result. The success rate of a procedure has to be taken into account in order to determine its cost effectiveness. Cost effectiveness is a useful way to compare different treatment methods to achieve the same outcome (such as pregnancy). Cost effectiveness can be calculated either as the cost of a procedure divided by its success rate or as the total cost of the number of procedures to achieve a single success.
For example, IVF has an overall success rate of 30% per treatment at an average cost of $12,000 per treatment. Its cost effectiveness is $12,000/.3 or $40,000 per pregnancy achieved. Another way to look at it is that it takes 3.3 IVF cycles, on average, to achieve a pregnancy, or $12,000 x 3.3 treatment cycles = $40,000 spent by several couples for one couple to achieve a pregnancy.
The tubal reversal procedure I perform has an overall success rate of 70% at an average cost of $6000 per treatment. Its cost effectiveness is 6000/.7 or $8570 for a couple to achieve a pregnancy. Other doctors don’t have systems in place for long term follow-up of all of their patients such as we do at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. Without this, they can’t know their actual success rates, so the cost effectiveness of their procedures remains unknown.