GynoFiles

The FDA is bringing the Essure sterilization procedure under more scrutiny. Women have reported a variety of complications from Essure devices, including dislodged devices, organ perforation, and pelvic pain. Various groups have been tracking the symptoms women have reported from the device for awhile. Previously there was another device, the Adiana, that was also a transcervical sterilization method that was removed from the market. It's failure rate was greater than the Essure device. Women should remember the DMPA and IUDs when properly used have success rates of contraception that are not markedly different from sterilization and they are reversible, making these excellent contraception choices. If you currently have an Essure it may be worth discussing any symptoms you are having so that the placement of your coils can be ascertained and any potential side effects reported to the FDA.

As more women get Essure, more women are finding out questions they weren't sure they should have asked. Women worry about metal permanently in their body. Even if you didn't have an allergy today, could one develop in the future to some metal implant, it occurs to women to wonder how they could get rid of the offending device and still have the health benefits they sought in the first place.  There are many reported cases of hypersensitivity to various metals, even if the patient doesn't have a 'true allergy'. Metal is supposed to interfere with TNS units. Many heart stents are 'stainless steel' which is actually nickel and chromium. When it comes to skin rashes, nickel is a common offender, about 20% of the population reports some allergies to nickel in contact with skin. But not all that get rashes from contact to the skin would have a problem with metal actually used in your body. You can be tested with a skin prick test to see if you are allergic bef...

Endometrial ablation technology controls heavy menstrual bleeding but it doesn't provide adequate contraception. If there remains any viable endometrium (uterine lining tissue) then a woman can still get pregnant, thus contraceptive planning at the time of endometrial ablation is very important. Pregnancy after the endometrial ablation is considered dangerous. At least 1/3 pregnancies after an ablation will miscarry, there is a 5 times greater ectopic pregnancy rate, there is up to a 30% risk of premature birth, and there is a 25% risk of the placenta being implanted abnormally. There have been rare reports of uterine rupture during pregnancy and also cases of bands growing in the uterus that can cause several fetal deformities. And the newest MRI studies show that 95% of women with prior endometrial ablation will still have some viable endometrial tissue. Even women who no longer get menstrual cycles will still likely have some small amount of viable uterine lining tissue and h...

Expelled Essure Device Even if you have had your Essure device for many years, it can, very rarely, expell as this one did. The patient had a dvice for many years, and then began to have heavy periods. The device was found on the tampon during a particularly crampy menstrual period. Once it is expelled, it cannot be relied upon for contraception. She would be a good candidate for out patient treatment of the bleeding with a NovaSure ablation, as well as a candidate for repeat sterilizaiton.

Right fallopian tube getting a laparoscopic cautery sterilization A healthy left fallopian tube undergoing laparoscopic sterilization, the instrument is holding the tube, the white blanch is the tube being heated so that it will seal closed, and a  normal left ovary is shown next to the tube Once you've make the decision not to have more children using some type of long term contraception definitely simplifies life. For many women, once they have had their children, they still want to retain fertility, so that the Implanon (now they have updated, and most of us use Nexplanon ) device or Intrauterine devices Mirena and ParaGard are good choices as they last for many years and can successfully prevent pregnancy a high percentage of the time. For others however, if you are sure you do not want children then tubal sterilization is the solution.For most women getting the Essure procedure is going to be a better choice than the old fashioned surgeries shown here. At Women...

A writer asked what is the chance of getting endometriosis after a tubal ligation if you have not had this before? Not that the post tubal ligation syndrome has ever been really validated, exactly, but there are issues to review. Some studies have reported that between 16-63% of the stumps of the tubes after traditional tying or burning tubal sterilization procedures will have spots of endometriosis. So as sterilizations evolve into the newer procedures, with the metal inserts, it may be seen that some women will have a risk of post tubal ligation syndrome if they have an Essure placed. It is very unlikely that either, tubal ligation or tubal blockage with the Essure of would increase the chance of endometriosis or endometrial implants that were not in the pelvis before the surgery. But before you get sterilized find out from you gyno, have you been assessed for risk of this syndrome? 1951 was first report of the post tubal ligation syndrome, and in the years since there are man...

Sterilization is sill popular, belly cutting is never quite as popular, but there are a lot of things to consider when deciding on permanent contraception.. Couples who discuss whether him or her should made the decision, statistically it is found that boys don't as likely (in the US) wind down their production factory capabilities, obvious anatomic differences aside, it's time women realize that they don't have to either, as there are methods of effective contraception that do not prevent pregnancy. We have reached the first decade of the less invasive, inserted through the cervix into the fallopian tube techniques known as transcervical sterilization. The Essure device was approved in 2002. Adiana came available to American women in 2009, and has been gone since 2012, so there really is no Adiana, and much of the information in this post is left for historical interest. But we do have laparsocpic tubal ligation, something to consider if you are getting surgery for ovaria...

Is the contraception revolution is back? We can think back to the start of the revolution. Russell E. Marker, one of the five principal founders of oral contraceptives, worked on the problem of making cheap progesterone. At the time of his research at Pennsylvania State University in 1935, it required 2500 pregnant pigs to produce 1 mg of progesterone. He then discovered that Beth’s root in North Carolina, then a popular herbal remedy for menstrual pains, also a species of Trillium the wild Mexican Yam, contained a plant steroid disogenin that could be manufactured into progesterone. The first birth control pill that was approved in the United States was Enovid-10® in 1960. By 1988 63 million women were using oral contraceptives worldwide. So how far have we come exactly? In the 1950s we had five methods of contraception that were used in the US these were condoms, douches, withdrawal, rhythm and diaphragms. Generally, not very effective. Fifty years later the top five methods are ...