Essure

Essure is a permanent, less-invasive surgical sterilization procedure for women developed by Conceptus Inc., a subsidiary of Bayer AG. With Essure, a coil designed to induce fibrosis and block the fallopian tubes is placed into each fallopian tube to prevent fertilization. It was approved for use in the United States on November 4, 2002.

Essure was designed as an alternative to tubal ligation, the standard procedure for surgical sterilization. In tubal ligation, a surgeon cuts a small hole in the abdomen, and through that hole, blocks or cuts the fallopian tubes. Tubal ligation is major surgery that is done in a hospital and requires anesthesia. Essure can be done in a doctor's office with less anesthesia. A 2009 review concluded that Essure seemed to be safe and effective based on short-term studies, and that it was less invasive and could be cheaper than laparoscopic bilateral tubal ligation.

However, according to the U.S. F.D.A. adverse events database and other studies reported in the medical literature, there have been a large number of adverse events, including tubal perforations, intractable pain and bleeding leading to hysterectomies, possible device-related deaths, and hundreds of unintended pregnancies.