A neglected way to unblock Fallopian tubes needs revisiting

() is marvellous. But it is also a palaver. It involves drugs, injections, early morning vaginal ultrasound monitoring, sedation, minor surgery, medical skill, high-tech machines and luck. And at several thousand dollars a pop, it is . Not to mention that it is more likely than not to fail.In cases where is caused by blockage of the Fallopian tubes, which carry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus, an obvious alternative might seem to be to try unblocking the tubes in question. If the blockage is merely a result of dried mucus, that can be done fairly simply using a procedure called Fallopian tube recanalisation. This involves pushing a fine guidewire out through the end of a catheter and up the blocked tube. It is not a new approach. But it is, in the view of Lindsay Machan, an interventional radiologist at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, an underused one. According to Dr Machan, many reproductive endocrinologists and interventional radiologists do not know about it. And he thinks they should.