Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center specializes in tubal ligation reversal and surgery to repair blocked fallopian tubes.
We want our patients to be well informed, and we have started this series for women over the age of 40 who have had a tubal ligation and want to become pregnant again. The information contained in this series may be helpful to all women considering the alternative treatments of tubal reversal or IVF.
Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center specializes in reversing tubal ligation and repairing damaged or blocked fallopian tubes. We perform over 800 tubal repair surgeries per year and have patients who travel to us from around the world and across the United States to have tubal surgery at our center.
Susan is an international patient who traveled to Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for both tubal ligation reversal and ovarian conserving surgery. The day before her reversal surgery Susan and her partner, Stephen, sat with Dr. Monteith for a pre-operative interview. They have a unique story and we asked if they would allow us to share their story with our Tubal Reversal Blog and Tubal Reversal Message Board readers.
Specializing in tubal surgery and the treatment of infertility in women who have had tubal ligations (tubes tied), we meet many patients who share many different stories with us. In the fall of 2008, I was conducting a preoperative evaluation with a patient for a tubal ligation reversal after she had an unsuccessful IVF treatment cycle. Here is her story.
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The tubal reversal doctors at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center perform over 800 tubal ligation reversals every year. We perform tubal reversals on patients from all over the United States and across the world. We have become experts in unblocking blocked tubes.
Every one of our patients brings with them a unique story. Periodically, we like to present their stories so readers can see the diverse walks of life from which our patients come.
On December 1st 2008, I meet Dorinda and asked her if she would participate in our Tubal Reversal Blog. She agreed and here is her story:
This is part two of a three part series on Patricia and her decision to have tubal ligation reversal. Part one is Tubal Ligation Reversal at 46: Patricia’s Story.
Twenty-two years ago, I was talked into getting my tubes tied after the birth of my third child. I was led to believe my life would be threatened if I had another baby, so I agreed to it. I am now 46 years old and remarried to a man who has never had a child. When he asked if it were possible for us to have a baby, my first reaction was no – I am too old. But after thinking about it, I decided to check into my options. I went to a specialist to have tests and be examined to see if my tubal ligation could be reversed. I also wanted to know if it was safe for me to have another baby. My husband also had his sperm count checked to make sure he was in good condition.
In the Fall of 2008, I was preparing to meet with a patient who was traveling to Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center from Fort Campbell, Kentucky (KY) for a tubal ligation reversal. The patient’s name was Catrina. She is 33 years old and newly married to, Chris, an Army Staff Sergeant.
Catrina sent us an operative report from a diagnostic laparoscopy (camera surgery), that discovered she had a tubal ligation. During our interview, I asked her why her general gynecologist had done this surgery. I was surprised by the story she had to tell.
Tubal ligation reversal at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center is a simple and safe outpatient operation for reversing tubal sterilization through a small incision that results in minimal discomfort and recovery time.
Dr. Gary Berger and Dr. Charles Monteith specialize in untying tubes. Women travel to Chapel Hill, NC from all over the United States and other parts of the world to have their tubes repaired after a previous tubal ligation. Over 7000 women have chosen to come here for their reversal procedures because we specialize exclusively in tubal ligation reversal, have perfected the outpatient approach to reversal surgery, and have the best success in terms of pregnancies after tubal reversal surgery.
By Lisa D. Hourmouzis, RN
Tubal Reversal Nurse
It’s 7:30 am at Chapel Hill Surgical Center. In a moment of solitude, Dr. Gary Berger meticulously scrubs for the first surgery of the day. As he stands there quietly, I can’t help to wonder about the story behind the man in the surgical mask.
How did he become the surgeon he is today? What drives him to succeed?
These questions led to the following sit down with America’s leading tubal reversal surgeon, Dr. Gary Berger:
When did you decide to go into obstetrics and gynecology?
GB – When I was beginning my fourth year of medical school, during the time when we had to decide what direction we were going to go in, I felt like I wasn’t really secure enough in my basic medical foundation to want to jump into a specialty. So, I made the decision I would take a year of internship in internal medicine. But I had already made the decision that year to start my OB/GYN residency after the internship in medicine.
What led you to Duke?
GB – I was always a very hard worker. I guess I believed in the adage, “No pain, no gain.” So, I picked the hardest program in the US which was the medical internship at Duke University Medical Center. They had that reputation at the time. You were on-call five nights out of seven, and it was a very grueling program. But I thought I needed that to feel like I had a basic medical education before I proceeded.
Did anyone influence your decision to enter OB/GYN?
GB – I had been thinking about going into obstetrics and gynecology, and it just so happened that during that time we had a visit from Dr. Carl Tyler from the Centers for Disease Control. He was looking to recruit physicians into the EIS program, the Epidemic Intelligence Service. He came to the University of Rochester where I attended medical school and made contact with one of the pediatric professors there. I remember being on my pediatric rotation at that time.
Unbeknown to me, my pediatrics professor had been an EIS officer; he also taught the courses in epidemiology and statistics, which I loved. Most of the other medical students weren’t so interested in them. Because I had done so well in those courses, he recommended that Dr. Tyler interview me. That was definitely a turning point in my life.
I was offered the opportunity to be in the U.S. Public Health Service at the CDC, but Dr. Tyler needed me to complete one year of my OB/GYN residency before I could join the program. That made my decision. I immediately started looking for residencies in OB/GYN. And as it turned out, that two-year period was probably one of the most influential periods in my life. It was an absolute amazing experience.
What did you like most about obstetrics and gynecology?
GB – The thing I liked about obstetrics and gynecology was the obstetrics. I really did not think I would ever have an interest in performing surgery. In medical school, my surgical rotation was one of my least favorites.
What changed your view about surgery?
GB – During my third and fourth year of my OB/GYN residency, I had the good fortune of working closely with Dr. Jerry Hulka, the inventor of the Hulka clip. He made a big impression on me. His interests, aside from developing this technique in sterilization, were laparoscopic surgery and tubal surgery. So, it was during that time I became interested in tubal surgery; and what really solidified it was when I had the chance to see microsurgery performed. I knew at that point, that’s what I wanted to do.
Why did you decide to focus on tubal reversal surgery?
GB – My ideal was always to be able to do this surgery. I’ve done infertility treatment, IVF. I’ve done almost every type of GYN operation there is, with the exception of cancer surgery, but tubal microsurgery was always my special love. Fortunately, that’s where I am at this point.
What drives you?
GB – I think it’s a desire to be successful at whatever I do. If I’m doing tubal surgery, I want to be the best at doing tubal surgery. I want to know the most about it, have done the most and not just have the most experience, but intellectually, collected the most information. To me, that’s enjoyable because then I feel like it’s something that I’ve mastered. And of course, I like being able to help the couples that come here. I really feel that we can help most people. I know that people are better off coming here than taking any other alternative that they have, in terms of having tubal reversal surgery.
What do you enjoy most about tubal reversal surgery?
GB – I like the challenge, the meticulousness about it. And I like being able to operate on patients and see them be comfortable and safe, and not dealing with complications.
I have a very idealistic view of things. If there’s a better way to do something, let’s find it and do it that way. I just think that’s a good way to practice medicine. But it’s not just about me personally; it has to do with everyone on our staff who is involved in it.
Where do you hope to see tubal reversal surgery in the future?
GB – I don’t know if the pendulum will ever swing back to tubal reversal, it was there when I started 30 years ago. It was the new, exciting thing. And then IVF became the new and exciting thing.
Tubal surgery is quite different. I don’t think tubal surgery will ever suddenly become widely used or widely taught, but I think there is clearly a place for it. I like the fact that I’m training another doctor. And maybe in the future, one thing we might consider is becoming a training center where we could take physicians who are already at an advanced level like Dr. Monteith, and help them be able to do this type of surgery with expertise.
Tubal reversal helps a lot of patients, and there definitely should be the option for doctors to have additional education in it so that doctors don’t automatically send their patients into IVF programs when a simple tubal operation could be the solution.
Do you have a philosophy in your professional life?
GB – There’s an expression that I heard when I was in medical school, the quote was, “the secret in caring for the patient, is in caring for the patient.” And part of my philosophy is that I want to provide the exact type of medical care that I would want for myself, no less.
If I have to have a doctor, I want somebody who knows what they’re doing, is educated and a decent and kind person. Technically an expert, as knowledgeable about it as anyone, or more so than anybody else in the world. That’s the kind of doctor I would want for myself. Someone who will really take care of me if I have a problem and won’t brush it off or be too busy because it’s inconvenient for them. That’s the same thing that I want for my patients.
To learn more about Dr. Berger and Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, call 919.968.4656 or contact one of our tubal reversal professionals today.
A recent discussion on the Tubal Reversal Blog was about the Ethics of Tubal Ligation. This was regarding a patient who had been sterilized when she was 24 years old and had no children. She changed her mind in her thirties and came to Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center for a reverse sterilization procedure. Her fallopian tubes had been electrocoagulated extensively and the reversal operation was a difficult one to perform, requiring tubal implantation into the uterine cavity.
One of today’s patients is a 26 year old who had a tubal ligation at age 22 and had never had children. The doctor who performed her tubal ligation first applied Falope rings to the tubes, then proceeded to burn them in several locations. In her case, tubal reversal was not possible at all. During her operation, I wondered why any doctor would perform such a destructive type of tubal ligation for a young woman with no children. The Falope ring alone would have been sufficient to prevent pregnancy, yet allow reversal at a later time if she changed her mind about having children. Fortunately, she has the option of treatment by IVF. Still, why would a doctor perform an operation that essentially destroyed the tubes in such a young woman when there are a variety of other less destructive procedures for performing a tubal ligation? Is this ethical medical treatment?
I am very interested in what others think about this issue. Please leave your comments!!
More about Tubal Ligation Ethics
Submitted by Gary S. Berger, M.D.
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Gary S. Berger, M.D. |
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Charles Monteith, M.D. |
Tubal Ligation Reversal News
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