The Role of Diagnostic Laparoscopy in the Unexplained Infertility Cases

Abstract

Purpose: The study examines how useful laparoscopy is in finalizing the diagnosis of unexplained infertility.

Materials: The study included 50 women with 1 year or 2 years of infertility,  who had a regular marital life with unprotected intercourse for more than a year, normal husband's semen analysis, normal ovulation by folliculometry, normal hormonal profile, and normal hysterosalpingogram at the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Aswan University Hospital from January to December 2019.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study involving 50 women who underwent diagnostic laparoscopy after investigations and imaging failed to reveal the cause of infertility. During the procedure, the pelvis was inspected for any pathology, including the uterus, fallopian tubes, round ligaments, ureterovesical pouch, uterosacral ligaments, Douglas pouch, and ovarian fossae.

Results: Diagnostic laparoscopy helped uncover abnormal pathologies such as endometriosis, adhesions, and tubal pathologies in 30 women (60%) of the 50 included in the study, whereas no abnormality was detected in the remaining 20 (40%).

Conclusion: Laparoscopy is not only a crucial diagnostic technique in infertility patients, but it can also help with treatment selections. Conducting laparoscopy in cases of unexplained infertility is linked to both peritubular adhesions and pelvic endometriosis. These pelvic disorders might not be appropriately detected or treated without laparoscopy, and hysterosalpingography and basic imaging such as pelvic ultrasonography are frequently ignored.