Diagnostic and therapeutic radiological intervention for fallopian tube obstruction

Abstract

Presented in this paper are results of diagnostic and therapeutic radiological intervention for 110 cases of fallopian tube obstruction. Unilateral or bilateral recanalization was achieved in 89 cases, with a success rate being 80. 91 %. Among the 89 patients, patency was achieved by first step treatment (regular HSG) in 40 cases (46 %) and recanalization was successeful in 49 patients (54 %) by sencond and/or third step (selective salpingography plus guide wire). In the 49 cases, 96 occluded tubes were involved, including 89 tubes with proximal obstruction (interstitia-isthmus portion) and 7 tubes with medial-distal obstruction (isthmus-ampulla portion). The success rates for proximal and medial-distal obstruction were 92. 2 % and 7. 8 % respectively. Follow-up results of 45 cases revealed that the tubes of remained patent in 30 cases; 40 became pregnant, among them, 9 gave normal birth of babies; occlusion re-developed in only one case. The authors believe that this radiological intervention can avoid false positive findings frequently occurring with use of regular HSG, thereby enhancing diagnostic accuracy. The selective salpingography could directly increase the intratubal hydrostatic pressure, remove the debris and amiliorate the inflammatory adhersion in the fallopian tubes; selective salpingography plus guide wire recanalization can recanalize the tubes with proximal obstruction with satisfactory results. We recommend the method for the pre-treatment of “test tube baby” procedure.

Keywords

interventional radiology / diagnosis / treatment / fallopian tube obstruction

References

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