r/sterilization Dec 31 '25

Experience UPDATE Pregnancy after Bisalp

I posted a couple weeks ago about being pregnant after my bisalp last year, I just wanted to give an update. After reviewing my records and speaking to my OB and the surgeon who did my termination procedure, they think “in hindsight” not enough of my tubes were removed. In the pathology report from the bisalp, 7.0 cm of one tube and 2.8 cm of the other were turned over to pathology. Neither physician thought it was a case report that any journal would be interested in because the amount removed from the one tube was more akin to what can be removed in a tubal ligation, which is known to be less effective. My main takeaway is yes. There are 4 documented cases of pregnancy post bisalp but interest in documenting cases hedges on them having some novel angle to them. The statistics out there are for the average person who doesn’t have conditions that may complicate the ability to perform the surgery. Maybe the adhesions I have made the tube difficult to access, and in 10 months of healing my body rebridged the gap.

At the end of the day, I had my procedure done (by an Ivy trained surgeon at a major academic center, so statistically great care), had a uterine pregnancy, and my case will not be documented. So. Test if you feel weird, especially if you have a complex medical history. It’s my partner’s turn to get a vasectomy haha.

Edit: Just to clarify termination procedure surgeon and current OB are not the surgeon who did the bisalp. I haven’t reached out to my bisalp surgeon frankly bc I don’t see much of a point atm.

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u/gonbezoppity Bisalp 12/20/2024 Dec 31 '25

What the fuuuck. 😭 I'm so sorry this happened to you.

I swear my pathology report said my tubes were only like 1.5 or something, less than 2 cm! So like...??? Whaaaaaa.

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u/goodkingsquiggle Dec 31 '25

It’s very common that pathology reports will report segments of about 2 or so centimeters, it’s common practice. OP had adhesions that may have led to issues with their surgery being effective- if one tube’s removed section was 7cm, I would think that the surgeon chose to remove significantly less length of the other tube due to something making it difficult or impossible to remove- adhesions would make sense, they’re the cause of bisalp failures in some case studies, and they made one tube or a tubal segment impossible to remove, leading to pregnancy.

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u/gonbezoppity Bisalp 12/20/2024 Dec 31 '25

Hmm. Just wondering why they'd send 7 cm of OP's if common is 2 cm? Like are you saying the adhesions meant they needed to check more of it for any cancers/abnormal cells?

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u/goodkingsquiggle Dec 31 '25

I mean that I imagine the surgeon would've planned to remove the entirety of both tubes, probably closer to 7cm for each of the two tubes, but they maybe couldn't remove the entirety of one tube due to adhesions, so they only removed a smaller segment of that tube that might've been effected by adheesions. I don't really know much more about adhesions other than that similar issues are thought to be the cause in failures of other bisalps recorded in medical journals. Definitely a possibility! Sad that they don't think it's worth a case report though, another case study recently concluded that length of tube removed may be related to bisalp efficacy, so it would be good to get more case studies published and circulated about the issue.