To Tie or Not to Tie? The FDA Approval of Adiana Permanent Contraception May Help You Make Up Your Mind!

Good news...women will now have another permanent birth control option that doesn’t require an abdominal incision. The FDA has granted Hologic Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based women’s health care company, approval to market its Adiana permanent contraception system. Company officials say the system is designed to provide women with a less-invasive alternative to tubal ligation. The procedure does not involve an incision and can be performed in a doctor’s office using local anesthesia in as little as 15 minutes.

While tubal ligation is the most common form of permanent contraception used throughout the world, and an estimated 700,000 American women getting their fallopian tubes tied surgically tied each year, “hysteroscopic procedures such as those employing the Adiana permanent contraception system enable women to choose lifetime protection from pregnancy without the risks of general anesthesia and the longer recovery periods associated with traditional sterilization procedures," said Ted Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Vanderbilt University, and clinical investigator of the pivotal clinical trial for the Adiana system.

The Adiana procedure is indicated for women who desire permanent birth control by occlusion of the fallopian tubes. This contraceptive system permanently prevents pregnancy by applying a low level of radiofrequency energy to a small part of each fallopian tube, after which a tiny insert (about the size of a rice grain) is placed in each fallopian tube, and new tissue forms around it. This tissue completely blocks the fallopian tubes, permanently preventing conception. A woman must use temporary birth control (like male condoms, female condoms, the sponge or spermicide) during the three months following the procedure while the new tissue grows. A special x-ray test is then performed, after three months, to confirm that the fallopian tubes are completely blocked, and the woman may begin relying on Adiana for permanent contraception.

Since 2002, women have had the option to have the Essure permanent (non-surgical) birth control procedure as an alternative to surgical tubal ligation.

The FDA approval of the Adiana system will now allow another non-hormone, minimally-invasive permanent contraceptive choice for women in their post-childbearing years.

Trace Adiana's History:

• Adiana Provides a New Way to Get You All Tied Up
• FDA Advisory Panel Finds Adiana Permanent Contraception Approvable (a new option to tubal ligation)

_{Adiana Permanent Contraception Photo © 2009 Dawn Stacey}