very few replies to earlier Q about laproscopy cuz they're wildly successful and they've...

[avocada]

I'm being pointed by my RE to have a laparoscopy to remove distal-tube-end scar tissue (a result of chlamydia ~15 yrs ago). She says 80% of those she's done had visibly acceptable tubes (while looking during surgery-- said she can't tell from HSG) and that most of those patients went on to successfully conceive and give birth. (The other 20% of her laps had so much tubal damage that she removed them to avoid ectopic pregnancies and to prepare for IVF.) Any experiences to share?

[MeadowMom]

Hope everything works out for you.
I had a Lap done in March, and will have an HSG on Monday.
My RE says the odds greatly improve after the procedures to concieve.
BOL!!

[avocada]

What's your pending HSG for? To check on how the lap did? Did you have an HSG before the lap?

Yes, they say that (if your tubes aren't totally blocked) the movement of the dye for the HSG can clear the way for sperm and then embryo. In my case, the dye never left the ends of the tubes, so THAT didn't work.

Best of luck!

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

I hesitate to respond. I had this procedure six times, I'm sorry to tell you. The scarring kept coming back. My issues were a combination of endo and scarring from chlamydia, and I had several tubal pregnancies after surgery. However I did have one "actual" pregnancy, as well. I know the efficacy of the surgery has probably increased since my last lap (in 2000), and I HOPE that is the case for you.

I'll bet others have better "track records" but I thought I'd let you know.

[avocada]

I'm glad you piped in, Wendy. I did ask my doc about continued scarring-- she puts something on the tube ends to prevent post-surgical scarring (she named it but I can't remember-- a chemical, or is it a physical prop?...). So I said: "So they'll be open forever?" She: "Yes." Oh how I want to run with that!

[biomama]

My RE mentioned that this might be a further diagnostic step for me, but ultimately advised that we move on to IVF since it is unlikely that I have anything really wrong (other than a polyp seen in my saline histosonogram which will be removed by hysteroscopy).

If you do IVF, you don't need tubes at all, so I guess I don't really see the point in trying to open them if you have to do IVF anyway? Maybe I'm missing something? Or would it be that you wouldn't have to do IVF if they could fix the tubes.

Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. Sorry I'm a dolt. For us, we have to do IVF anyway because we have male factor. So even if my tubes are no good, repairing them wouldn't solve the other problem.

I'm a little slow this morning!

so avocada, what did you decide to do?

[shastasue]

I had a lap done in April. They thought that I might have endo. I ended up with an adhesion, cysts, and a large fibroid. I've heard a lot of sucess stories with removing scar tissue from tubes. Actually I have a friend in real life that is due in Nov. She got pregnant her first cycle after her lap to open up a scarred tube. I'm not sure it did much for me because of other issues, but I know for sure I would never get pregnant if I hadn't had it done. Good Luck.

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Originally Posted by avocada

I'm glad you piped in, Wendy. I did ask my doc about continued scarring-- she puts something on the tube ends to prevent post-surgical scarring (she named it but I can't remember-- a chemical, or is it a physical prop?...). So I said: "So they'll be open forever?" She: "Yes." Oh how I want to run with that!

I've never heard of something that keeps them open, hmmm. Must be new.

Here's an article that I found about this that seems to go along with my experience. The problem with the location of the problem, being the ends of the tube, is that it has a pretty high rate of re-scarring and a fairly low rate (20%-30%) of post-op success in conception. That may be enough of a chance to go for it (since, of course, there's a much smaller chance of getting pregnant as-is).

Ugh, I've come off sounding all Debbie Downer - I don't mean to. Sorry.

[ksc0917]

I'm afraid I have nothing to offer by way of hope. I had similar issues. They found a VERY large tumor encompassing my Left tube & ovary and while in surgery they found that the Right tube was blocked due to scarring from chlamydia years earlier (SO embarassed to say). They cleaned out the Right tube & gave me 6 months to get pregnant before the scarring would likely re-occur. This was just a few years ago. The Dr. told me that there was nothing they could do prevent the scarring from coming back & that my chances of an ectopic were much higher. I got pregnant 3 times within that 6 months but miscarried all of them. The scarring did come back & blocked the end of the tube and I eventually ended up with an ectopic & had to have emergency surgery to remove the tube. So now IVF is my ONLY option of getting pregnant.