New Permanent Contraception

FDA panel recommends Adiana device for permanent contraception.

FDA advisory panel recommended "the approval of a new method for sterilizing women that would give them another option to tubal ligation."

The 15-minute alternative procedure "involves using radio signals to create a lesion inside the fallopian tube," where a catheter-like device, called Adiana, is fitted to deliver "a soft material smaller than a grain of rice into the tube.

Healthy tissue then grows on and around the material to create a permanent blockage." According to FDA documents, however, "the procedure was not foolproof." Fifteen months after 570 women underwent the procedure, "pregnancies occurred in 11 cases."

Still, the agency "said the one-year efficacy rate for Adiana was 98.9 percent."