Fallopian Tube Blockage
Blockage of the fallopian tube near the uterine end
can be relieved by state of the art procedures available at the center. Selective
salpingography is a procedure where a tube is placed at the beginning of the fallopian
tube and dye is injected to pressure out any debris. If this is not successful, a
catheter, very much like that used for heart surgery, is threaded into the fallopian tube
to release the blockage. The above procedures can be performed either in the x-ray
department or in conjunction with laparoscopy and hysteroscopy in the operating room when
other information of the female pelvis is needed. When the blockage can not be relieved by
cannulation, microsurgery with resection and anastomosis of the tube is required. The
technique of anastomosis is the same as for sterilization
reversal and it is a technique that was pioneered at the Center.
Fallopian tube blockage can also occur near the
middle of the tube either from sterilization or from disease including treated or
untreated ectopic pregnancy, fibrosis from infection, and other rarer causes. Again
resection with laparoscopic anastomosis is an effective form of treatment. Blockage at the
ends of the tube (hydrosalpinx) is treated by opening of this area and sewing it back with
fine microsutures. The inside of the fallopian tube is inspected with a special telescope
(salpingoscope) which gives an idea of the quality of the tubal lining. (Thus all
blockages of the fallopian tube can be treated either by cannulation or by laparoscopic
microsurgery without the need to perform an open abdominal incision.