Extended balloon stent placement for reducing intrauterine adhesion recurrence: a retrospective cohort study.

RESEARCH QUESTION

What are the efficacy, safety and reproductive outcomes of intrauterine balloon stent placement for 4 or 6 weeks after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis?

DESIGN

This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a university-affiliated hospital, and included 155 women with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesions who underwent hysteroscopic adhesiolysis between March 2016 and December 2019. Participants were divided according to whether the heart-shaped balloon stent was left in place for 4 (group 1) or 6 (group 2) weeks after surgery. Stents removed at the second-look hysteroscopy 4 or 6 weeks after surgery were sent for culturing of common bacteria. The incidence of adhesion reformation, adhesion score reduction, bacterial colonization of the intrauterine balloon stent, live birth rate and time to live birth were analysed.

RESULTS

Group 2 had a significantly lower adhesion reformation rate (45.7% versus 28.2%, P = 0.024) and a more significant reduction in adhesion score (5.2 ± 2.1 versus 6.3 ± 2.2, P = 0.003) compared with group 1. However, no statistical difference was observed in the percentage of bacterial colonization of the intrauterine balloon stent (55.9% versus 66.7%, P = 0.174), live birth rate (52.4% versus 42.3%, P = 0.331) or time to live birth (hazard ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 0.60-1.96, P = 0.778) between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Extending intrauterine balloon stent use from 4 to 6 weeks further reduces the adhesion reformation rate after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis in patients with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion. No increase in bacterial colonization of the balloon stent was observed. Extending the duration of intrauterine balloon stent placement did not significantly affect live birth rates.