Acute Miliary Tuberculosis in Pregnancy After in Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer: Report of Seven Cases and Systemic Review

Abstract

BackgroundWhile miliary tuberculosis (TB) in pregnancy is rare after in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), it poses a serious threat to the health of pregnant women and their fetuses. The present study aimed to describe the clinical features of miliary TB and pregnancy outcomes of patients after IVF-ET.MethodsData of infertile patients who received IVF-ET at Peking University Third Hospital between January 2012 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients who developed miliary TB during pregnancy were identified, and clinical characteristics of miliary TB were described. The keywords “infertility,” “in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer,” and “tuberculosis” were used to search for articles published from 1980 to 2019 in PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE databases.ResultsOf 62,755 enrolled women, 7137 (11.4%) showed signs of prior pulmonary TB on chest X-ray (CXR). Seven patients aged 28–35 years had miliary TB during pregnancy, with two patients complicated by TB meningitis. All of these patients presented with fever. Notably, old TB lesions were detected on CXR in six patients before IVF-ET; nevertheless, no anti-TB therapy was administered. Furthermore, salpingography revealed oviduct obstruction in all patients (7/7). Patients received anti-TB therapy following a diagnosis of miliary TB and were clinically cured. However, pregnancy was terminated due to spontaneous (4/7) and induced (3/7) abortion. Previous literature indicates that signs of prior TB on CXR and oviduct obstruction on laparoscopy are risk factors for TB reactivation during pregnancy, which displayed a trend for hematogenous dissemination.ConclusionsTB reactivation, mostly as miliary TB and TB meningitis, is severe in pregnant women after IVF-ET and deleterious to pregnancy outcomes. The coexistence of primary infertility, untreated prior pulmonary TB, and fallopian tube obstruction is a risk factor for TB dissemination.