www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Tico Times
Weekly Edition Newspaper: June 8 - June 14, 2007 | San José Costa Rica

Costa Rican Doctor Offers
Innovative Female Sterilization Surgery
Until now, if a woman in Costa Rica wanted to undergo surgery to permanently prevent pregnancy, her only option was an operation to tie the fallopian tubes. But a new technique has become available that offers sterilization without invasive surgery or scars.

Costa Rica is becoming the first Central American country to practice this method, called Essure, which involves placing a micro-implant in each fallopian tube to prevent sperm from uniting with eggs and fertilizing them.

Costa Rican gynecologist Ronny Calderón, the only Central American doctor trained in this method, explained that Essure has been practiced for several years in the United States and Europe, especially in France and Spain.

In the rest of Latin America, the method is available in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay.

The procedure is very simple, Calderón said. First, a flexible tube five millimeters in diameter is inserted into the vagina. This tube contains a camera lens less than three millimeters wide.

Through a monitor, the doctor finds the uterus and entrance to the fallopian tubes, where he places a micro-implant, made of titanium and nickel, in each tube.

This causes a scarring of the fallopian tube within three months of the implant being inserted, and this prevents sperm from being able to unite with eggs.

The procedure is safe and easy and does not require surgery or anesthesia, Calderón said. It takes about 20 minutes, and is 99% effective in preventing pregnancy.

More than 500,000 women have been sterilized using this method, he said, and no complications have been reported so far. Only women who are allergic to titanium or nickel do not qualify.

Calderón said he hopes to train other Costa Rican gynecologists in this technique and for it to eventually be available at public hospitals.