Tubal reanastomosis, tubal implantation and salpingostomy are surgical processes for repairing blocked tubes and making them complete again.
Blocked fallopian tubes can be caused by either infections such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and salpingitis or by surgical intervention such as in a tubal ligation.
While the former infections may not be desired, the tubal ligation usually is.
Whichever causes blocked tubes, there comes a time when a woman may desire to have her tubes unblocked.
If a woman's fallopian tubes are blocked, the chances of her conceiving a child naturally is prevented.
This is because the egg after being released from the ovaries is prevented from reaching the uterus and the man's sperm prevented from reaching the egg.
This means no fertilization can take place which can cause great anguish to couples desiring a child.
Even women who have had tubal ligations can change their minds.
Whatever the reason for the woman's tubes being blocked there are ways of treating them.
There are three types of tubal surgery that can be carried out which can help to remove the tubal blockage.
Below we take a brief look at what these are.
1.
Tubal Reanastomosis or Tubal Ligation Reversal Tubal reanastomosis is usually used to repair and reverse a tubal ligation.
It involves a microsurgical technique where the tubes are opened again by the scarred portions being cut away and then the tubes reconnected.
How much of the fallopian tubes remains after the scarred material is excised and the tubes reconnected is an important point in how successful this procedure will be.
So much depends upon how much was damaged in the original tubal ligation.
This tubal reanastomosis is basically how a tubal blockage caused by infection is repaired as well.
The only difference is the surgeon removes the portion of the fallopian tubes damaged by the infection, which may include abscesses as well as scarring, first essentially performing a ligation.
Then he reconnects the good portions of the tube which is the tubal reanastomosis part, or putting them back together again.
2.
Tubal Implantation or Tubouterine Implantation This procedure is used to make the tubes viable once more where only the distal portion of them remains.
The distal portion is the part away from the uterus and closest to the ovary.
For some reason, the proximal or portion closest to the uterus is unavailable or too damaged to use.
What the surgeon will do is create a new opening through the uterine muscle and then insert the remaining part of the fallopian tubes into the uterine cavity.
One type of sterilization that this is used to reverse is when an Essure device is inserted into the fallopian tubes through the uterus.
Usually the Essure creates the blockage right where the uterus and tubes meet which means another opening into the uterus must be created using this surgical procedure.
3.
Salpingostomy In some cases of blocked tubes, the fimbrial end of the fallopian tubes nearest the ovary will be damaged or even removed through a sterilization procedure.
When this happens, salpingostomy is used to make an incision in the tubes creating a new opening.
After the incision is made, the tissue is folded over and then stitched back in an effort to reveal the cilia in the lining of the innermost layer of the fallopian tubes.
This allows the egg, after being released from the ovary, to pass through the tubes normally in order to reach the uterus hopefully having been fertilized by sperm on its journey.
While the second two methods of repairing blocked tubes are used, it is the tubal reanastomosis procedure which is most widely used to make repairs.
Thousands of women every year discover they have blocked tubes due to an infection or decide the tubal blockage caused by the ligation they wanted is no longer desired.
The above methods are their answers to once again become fertile and capable of having a child.