The Role of Tubal Surgery in the Era of Assisted Reproductive Technology

  This is the 2015 committee opinion of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Clinical Committee, which is equivalent to a guideline.  Tubal disease causes infertility in 25-35% of women, and more than half of these cases are due to tubal inflammation. In addition, large studies have found that as many as 20-30% of women regret having a tubal ligation. Therefore, it is necessary to define the best treatment option for patients with tubal factor infertility. Depending on the location of the blocked tube, several surgical options are available to obtain recanalization of the occluded tube.  The following factors should be taken into account when counseling patients with tubal infertility about corrective surgery or IVF: age of the woman, ovarian reserve, number and quality of sperm in the ejaculatory ducts, number of children desired, location and severity of the tubal lesion, combination of other infertility factors, risk of ectopic pregnancy and other comorbidities, experience of the surgeon, success rate of the IVF procedure, cost and patient preference.  There are no adequate studies comparing pregnancy rates for tubal surgery vs. IVF, which has a higher pregnancy rate per cycle. In contrast, tubal anastomosis for reversal of tubal sterilization has a higher cumulative pregnancy rate and is more cost-effective, even for women 40 years of age or older.  For patients who are not candidates for corrective tubal surgery, laparoscopic tubal resection or proximal tubal ligation can be used to eliminate the damaging effect of tubal effusion on IVF pregnancy rates.  The conclusions of this article are as follows: There is good (GOOD) evidence to support hysterosalpingography as the standard first-line option for assessing the degree of tubal patency, but it has a false-positive rate for diagnosing proximal tubal atresia.  In young women without other clear infertility factors, there is sufficient (fair) evidence to recommend the use of tubal cannulation for the treatment of proximal tubal obstruction.  In young women without other clear infertility factors, there is sufficient (fair) evidence to recommend laparoscopic cystoplasty or tubal ostomy for the treatment of mild tubal effusion.  There is good evidence to recommend laparoscopic salpingo-oophorectomy or proximal ligation to surgically remedy hydrosalpinx and thereby improve IVF pregnancy rates.  There is good (good) evidence to support microsurgical tubal recanalization to reverse tubal ligation.