September 16, 2024 – Women who depend on having their fallopian tubes tied as their primary approach to contraception could also be at higher risk of an unplanned pregnancy than expected. Between 3% and 5% of girls who subsequently undergo the procedure grow to be unintentionally pregnant.
This emerges from newly published data Insights from a team led by researchers on the University of California who said more Effective alternatives include in-arm or in-utero contraception, which provides longer-lasting protection against pregnancy.
“This study shows that tubal surgery cannot be considered the best option for preventing pregnancy,” said lead researcher Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, MD, MS, division chief of general internal medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, in a Press release. “People who use a contraceptive arm implant or IUD are less likely to become pregnant than people who have their fallopian tubes tied.”
The procedures which are often considered everlasting types of contraception are collectively generally known as tubal sterilization and are called tubal ligation and salpingectomy. Tubal ligation surgery involves blocking the fallopian tubes in order that eggs cannot travel from the ovaries to the uterus. During a salpingectomy, the fallopian tubes are removed.
Black wrote on the social media platform LinkedIn that further research could soon be funded to see how well salpingectomy works.
Approximately 600,000 women undergo tubal sterilization every year and will be told that the possibility of becoming pregnant is slim about 1% throughout the first yr after surgery.
This latest study found a much higher failure rate in comparison with previous figures, which were largely based on data from 40 years ago. Researchers analyzed survey responses collected between 2002 and 2015 from 4,184 women who reported having undergone tubal sterilization. Within the primary yr after the procedure, 3% of girls sterilized between 2013 and 2015 reported becoming pregnant.
Younger women were probably to grow to be pregnant after tubal sterilization. Some people select tubal sterilization over other contraceptive methods for reasons of convenience or cost. Arm implants And Spirals are greater than 99% effective.
“When choosing which contraceptive method is best for them, people consider many different things, including safety, convenience and how quickly they can start using the method,” Schwarz said. “For people who have chosen a 'permanent' method, finding out they are pregnant can be very distressing. It turns out this is a pretty common experience, unfortunately.”