The reversibility of female sterilization with the use of microsurgery: a report on 102 patients with more than one year of follow-up.

A prospective study of 102 patients who underwent a reversal of sterilization between January, 1977, and February, 1982 revealed a pregnancy rate of 68% after more than 1 year of follow-up. The term delivery, abortion, and ectopic pregnancy rates were 52%, 11%, and 5%, respectively. The most reversible procedure was placement of the Falope ring (83% term delivery), and the least reversible was fimbriectomy (29%). The use of the microscope in performing tubal operation was associated with term delivery rates (60%) higher than those when no microscope was used (44%); this was particularly significant after tubal cautery (50% versus 25%). A total remaining tube length of 6 cm or more after previous sterilization resulted in a much better (74%) term delivery rate after microsurgical procedures than that in patients with shorter tubes (44%). The most successful site for tubal anastomosis was isthmus-isthmus and cornu-isthmus, with 81% and 67% term delivery rates, respectively.