Alan Reed

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Murray Women’s Clinic announced that two physicians, Dr. Tom Green and now Dr. Kent Hjerpe offer a new, non-surgical birth control procedure for women known as Essure, manufactured by Conceptus.

Dr. Green described Essure as a non-surgical means to implant occluding devices in the fallopian tubes to create permanent sterilization.

“It’s a minimally invasive procedure that may be performed in a physician’s office. We insert an instrument into a woman’s uterus through the cervix and visualize the fallopian tubes where the devices are inserted to block an egg’s passage through them,” said Dr. Green. “There is no cutting, stitching, IV’s general anesthesia required to administer the procedure. A woman can walk in, have the procedure done and walk out again.”

According to Dr. Green, the Essure devices work as a barrier and contain no hormones. He said that the entire procedure is no more uncomfortable than a pap smear. Once the procedure is complete, he said that a patient must use oral contraceptives for a three-month span to allow total occlusion of the fallopian tubes to occur. After three months, patients are x-rayed to verify total blockage.

For the rest of this story, read this week's Cadiz Record.