FDA has given final approval to Hologics Adiana permanent contraception system, the Boston Herald reports. The company hopes to market the procedure as an alternative to tubal ligation surgery for the roughly 700,000 U.S. women who undergo the procedure each year. Adiana is similar to Conceptus Essure, which has been on the market since 2002.

Adiana involves a twostep procedure that can be performed in about 15 minutes in a doctors office. The process consists of inserting a catheter into the fallopian tubes and delivering a low level of radio frequency energy to make a small lesion on the inside lining of each tube. The catheter then implants silicone polymer inserts, about the size of a grain of rice, on top of the lesions. The tubes become blocked as healthy cell tissue attaches to the inserts (McConville, Boston Herald, 7/9).

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