Intra-operative hydrotubation improves fertility of women with distal tubal occlusion after reproductive surgery.

PURPOSE

Hydrotubation has been considered to be a complimentary procedure to reproductive surgery, usually being conducted after surgery. The objective of this work was to assess the potential value of intra-operative hydrotubation in improving fertility of tubal infertile women.

METHODS

180 tubal infertile women were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: intra-operative hydrotubation (IH), post-operative hydrotubation (PH) or control group. In IH group, the hydrotubation was performed immediately after adhesiolysis during the surgery process, while in PH group it was performed within 3-7 days after the first post-operative menstruation. The incidence of post-operative pelvic infection and average hospitalization length were recorded. The post-operative pregnancy outcomes, including intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) rate and incidence of ectopic pregnancy, were recorded at 2 years follow-up.

RESULTS

No significant difference was found among the three groups, either in the incidence of pelvic infection (P = 0.877) or in the average hospitalization length (P = 0.596). At 2 years of follow-up, the rate of IUP in IH group was significantly higher than that in either PH or control group (P = 0.017 and 0.039, respectively), but no difference was observed between PH and control group (P = 0.752). No significant difference in the incidence of ectopic pregnancy was showed among three groups (P = 0.947).

CONCLUSIONS

The appropriate use of intra-operative hydrotubation can improve the post-operative IUP rate, serving as a complementary procedure for the surgical treatment of fertility reversal.