Therapeutic strategies in tubal infertility with distal pathology

Since 1980, various treatments have been proposed for patients suffering from distal tubal infertility. Difficult choices between surgical (microsurgery/laparoscopy) treatments and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) still confront many workers. In this study, we evaluated the cumulative results of both therapeutic methods for this group of patients. From 1979 to 1990, 266 patients with distal tubal infertility were operated in our programme (group M: microsurgery, n = 211; group L: laparoscopy, n = 55). In group M, pathological findings were hydrosalpinges (n = 135) and incomplete distal tubal occlusion, (n = 76) and in group L hydrosalpinges (n = 31) and incomplete distal tubal occlusion (n = 24). After differing time intervals, IVF was proposed for these patients when no pregnancy occurred. The results were as follows: in group M, 35.5% intra-uterine pregnancy (IUP) and 6.6% ectopic pregnancy (EP) after fimbrioplasties versus 28.1% IUP and 11.9% EP after salpingostomy; in group L, 16.6% IUP and 4.2% EP after fimbrioplasty versus 12.9% IUP and 6.5% EP after salpingostomy. Following IVF, 55.7% of patients in group M and 14.5% in group L became pregnant. The cumulative results including both treatment techniques (surgery and IVF) show an average of 70% and 65% pregnancy rates in groups M and L respectively. The best results after surgery and throughout IVF were obtained during the first year. It is concluded that a short delay after surgery, averaging 6 months to 1 year, before involving patients in IVF, is very important.