Outpatient laparoscopic tubal anastomosis and subsequent fertility

Objective: To determine the reproductive outcome of women who undergo lapar oscopic tubal anastomosis. Design: Observational prospective study. Setting: University-affiliated infertility medical center. Patient(s): One hundred two patients seeking reversal of tubal sterilizatio n. Intervention(s): Laparoscopic tubal anastomosis was performed with a one-su ture technique. Main Outcome Measure(s): Pregnancy rate. Result(s): There were 69 isthmic-isthmic, 16 isthmic-ampullary, 12 cornual- isthmic, and 5 ampullary ampullary anastomoses. The mean operative time was 71.35 minutes. Eight patients had bilateral tubal obstruction on postopera tive hysterosalpingography. Sixty-nine patients (70%) conceived. Sixty-four (65.3%) had ongoing intrauterine pregnancies, 15 (21.7%) had spontaneous a bortions, and 5 (7.2%) had ectopic pregnancies. Conclusion(s): This study demonstrates that laparoscopic tubal anastomosis can be done safely and successfully on an outpatient basis, reducing costs and postoperative morbidity while accelerating the patient's return to norm al activities. (Fertil Steril(R) 1999,72:549-52. (C) 1999 by American Socie ty for Reproductive Medicine.).