Hysterosalpingographic Tubal Abnormalities in Retroviral (HIV) Positive and Negative Infertile Females

Abstract

Background: HIV and infertility are associated in several ways and the improved treatment options which are available for HIV patients have improved their health, increased their reproductive years and subsequently, their desire to procreate. Objective:The objective was to compare the findings on hysterosalpingography in HIV positive and negative infertile females.Study Design: All the 5250 patients who were referred to the radiodiagnosis unit of the centre in 2011, were counselled about the study, but only the two thousand and two hundred females who gave their consents had their retroviral status determined and were included in this study. Their sociodemographic histories were acquired with the aid of a structured questionnaire and their hysterosalpingography studies were reported by a radiologist. Results:Most of the patients (54.5%) were within the age group

Hysterosalpingographic evaluation of human immunodeficiency virus-infected and uninfected infertile women

“…18 The high rates of HIV are probably because KwaZulu-Natal has the highest HIV burden in SA; the rate amongst antenatal attendees is 37%. 8 It should be noted that 25% of the HIV-infected infertile women in this study had not initiated anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Although no side effects or adverse events of HSG were noted in the study for both infected and uninfected women, the study was not designed to evaluate the complications in HIV-infected women following HSG.…”

“…Yahya et al 7 reported tuboperitoneal factor as the most common cause of infertility (seen in 81% of HIV-infected patients) and the association as statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.048. Similarly, Adegoke et al 8 reported that tubo-peritoneal abnormalities were more common amongst infertile women infected with HIV as compared to those without HIV infection. Adesiyun et al 4 also reported a study on HSG and found that distal tubal occlusion with hydrosalpinx was mainly associated with HIV infection.…”

“…19 The results of this study revealed that 38.8% of the patients had normal HSGs; however, our finding is lower than the 49.2% reported previously in a similar study in Nigeria. 8 This may be related to the HIV burden in the study sample. Other studies have recorded 16.6% and 29.1% of normal findings.…”

“…4,5,6 However, treatment of HIV infection has been reported to reduce infertility rates. 7,8 A variety of imaging techniques including hysteroscopy, ultrasonography (US), hysterosalpingography (HSG) and pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are available to evaluate the patency of the female genital tract for the investigation of infertility. The unavailability of expertise and the costs of imaging techniques, such as MRI and diagnostic laparoscopy, make HSG the most commonly used first-line imaging technique for evaluating female infertility in district and most regional hospitals in SA.…”

Female subfertility

“…Tubal abnormalities can be caused by infections (such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, and tuberculosis) often transmitted sexually, that cause scarring and damage of the tubal tissue, in addition to peritoneal infection, previous surgeries, or endometriosis, and rarely, genetic defects 53 . Subfertility is common in women with HIV, and is usually associated with tubal blockage (most commonly hydrosalpinges) particularly in women with a history of induced abortions and tubal pathologies 54 . Uterine abnormalities can be caused by uterine fibroids, polyps or adenomyosis, or congenital malformations.…”