Blocked tubes can be a common condition, which can have a significant impact upon many women and couples.
Having blocked tubes makes it more difficult to become pregnant.
When the tubes are blocked then the sperm and egg can not easily meet and pregnancy will never occur. Occasionally pregnancy will occur with partially blocked tubes but the fertilized egg will become trapped in the blockage as it tries to enter the uterus. This can result in an ectopic pregnancy.
There are two common reasons women develop blocked fallopian tubes and there are several advanced surgical procedures which can correct or reverse tubal blockage and allow a woman to become pregnant again.
How Do Tubes Get Blocked?
Tubes can become intentionally blocked after a tubal ligation procedure or tubes can become unintentionally blocked because of scar tissue.
The most common reason for tubal blockage is tubal ligation surgery.
Blocked Tubes After Surgery
When a patient request a tubal ligation procedure she is asking her doctor to intentionally block her tubes in the hopes that she will prevent future pregnancy. There are many different procedures to block fallopian tubes and once the tubes are blocked then future pregnancy will be very unlikely unless the blockage is surgically corrected.
Often women will regret having their tubes blocked and will want to have additional children. Thankfully tubal ligation reversal allows women the ability to surgically unblock blocked fallopian tubes.
The second most common reason for having blocked tubes is having tubal scar tissue.
Blocked Tubes After Tubal Scar Tissue
Fallopian tubes can become unintentionally blocked after a woman develops scar tissue inside the fallopian tubes or around the fallopian tubes. Scar tissue can develop and block tubes after abdominal infections, pelvic infections (PID), endometriosis, ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, and salpingitis isthmica nodosa (SIN).
Treatments For Blocked Fallopian Tubes
Fallopian tubes can be surgically unblocked with tubal surgery. The type of tubal surgery to unblock a tube depends on how the tubal blockage was caused and where along the tube the blockage occurs. The chance of pregnancy will be excellent for most women.
Tubal surgery can provide women with tubal blockage an alternative treatment to in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Unblocking Fallopian Tubes
Unblocking fallopian tubes after a tubal ligation or from tubal scar tissue is the specialty at A Personal Choice.
Dr. Gary Berger and Dr. Charles Monteith are tubal surgery specialist who exclusively perform tubal surgery most days of the week.
The next several articles will further explain how tubes become blocked, how tubal blockage is diagnosed, and the treatments available to correct blocked fallopian tubes.
The next article in this series is Reversing Blocked Tubes After Sterilization Procedures.
