Impaired utero-tubal sperm transport in adenomyosis and endometriosis-a cause for infertility

摘要

Background: Patients with minimal to mild/ endometriosis suffer from infertility Hysterosalpingoscintigraphy (HSSG) is the only method to evaluate integrity of utero-tubal sperm transport capacity Material and Methods: HSSG and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the late follicular phase in 41 endometriosis patients were done to detect integrity of sperm transport by HSSG and adenomyosis by MRI of the uterus Results: Eighty-five percent of patients reveal signs of adenomyosis when suffering from endometriosis Hence, the percentage of a complete failure of sperm transport in adenomyosis (negative HSSG) is significantly increased, whereas sperm transport prevails in endometriosis when no signs of adenomyosis are detected In diffuse adenomyosis, positive sperm transport can almost be excluded Conclusions: Since adenomyosis and endometriosis show a high prevalence and sperm transport capacity is impaired especially in adenomyosis, the uterine component of the disease has to be regarded as the cause for infertility in minor to mild endometriosis.