Essure Problems Highlighted at Patient Protest Outside Conference

A group of women gathered last weekend outside of a conference on gynecological surgery, in an effort to bring attention to thousands of reports involving complications and serious injuries linked to Essure birth control implant.  

About half a dozen protesters spent the weekend outside of the 42nd Global Congress of Minimally Invasive Gynecology at the National Harbor, just outside of Washington, D.C. The protesters held up signs outlining the Essure birth control problems they had allegedly suffered.

The event is held by the AAGL, which once stood for the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, but is officially now just the AAGL anagram due to its international reach. The Essure protesters were allowed a private meeting with the AAGL Executive Committee.

As a result of that meeting, the committee reportedly promised to send out memos to the thousands of members of their organization that will inform the members about the potential risk of Essure complications.

Essure birth control is a transcervical sterilization procedure, which is marketed as a less expensive, easier and safer alternative to tubal ligation surgery. Approved by the FDA in 2002, Essure was originally designed and manufactured by Conceptus, before being acquired by the pharmaceutical giant Bayer.

More than 750,000 women have undergone Essure birth control surgery, according to prior data released by Conceptus, and hundreds of adverse event reports have been filed with the FDA over the past decade involving problems that could be linked to side effects of Essure implants.

The birth control implant is offered as an outpatient procedure by many medical facilities. During the surgery, a doctor inserts bendable coils into the fallopian tubes, passing through the vagina, cervix and uterus. The process thus causes scar tissue to form around the coils over several months, which blocks the tubes, preventing insemination.

Problems reportedly linked to Essure include puncturing of the fallopian tubes and uterus, allergic reactions, reports of the implants breaking inside women’s bodies and other side effects. The FDA reports alone detail nearly 100 women who have had to undergo hysterectomies due to Essure side effects.

Bayer, which bought the original company that made the Essure implant and now markets the device worldwide, has downplayed the complaints, saying that there are relatively few cases out of the Essure implants used worldwide.