Study: Getting your tubes tied doesn't change menstruation

Wednesday, December 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(AP)-Do women increase their risk of menstrual problems if they get sterilized by having their tubes tied? Many doctors believe so, while others disagree, and now a major study settles this decades-old debate.

The answer is no.

Surgical sterilization is considered safe and effective, but questions have persisted about whether it makes women's periods worse. Some doctors have recommended hysterectomy instead to avoid the possibility.

The menstrual condition even has a name: post-tubal-ligation syndrome.

``After two decades of very careful study, we have good news,'' said Dr. Herbert B. Peterson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the study.

The researchers found that the ``syndrome'' doctors have worried about since the 1950s simply does not exist.

``This is another little correction to some of the mythology about tubal ligation,'' said Dr. Carolyn Westhoff of Columbia University, who was not involved in the research.

The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found that women who are sterilized are no more likely to develop menstrual problems than women who are not. If anything, they actually have shorter, less painful periods and bleed less.

In tubal sterilization _ also known as tubal ligation _ the fallopian tubes are cut and tied or blocked. That prevents an egg released by the ovaries from reaching the uterus and from getting fertilized by sperm.

Today, sterilization is the most popular form of contraception.

With so many women choosing sterilization _ 100 million around the world and over 10 million in the United States alone _ ``it's very important that we understand the safety of the procedure, including whether there are any long-term complications,'' Peterson said.

The five-year study tracked 9,514 women who were sterilized between 1978 and 1987 and compared them with 573 women whose partners had vasectomies between 1985 and 1987.

The women were questioned about their periods before their tubal sterilization or their partner's vasectomy and again each year to see if there were any persistent changes.

The sterilized women were no more likely than the unsterilized women to report changes in the length of their periods or bleeding between periods. They were more likely to have decreases in the number of days of bleeding, the amount of bleeding and menstrual pain. They reported an increase in the irregularity of their menstrual cycles.

The researchers could think of no biologically plausible reason why the sterilized women have easier periods and speculated that the difference could be a matter of chance.

Westhoff said the findings should be reassuring for those who chose sterilization.

``Nobody can promise that a women's period is going to stay easy for the rest of her life,'' Westhoff said. ``In fact, as women get older, get closer to menopause, they frequently have heavier periods, or more cramps or all sorts of unpleasant things. But that's not related to tubal ligation.''