Hysterosalpingographic Interrogation of Infertility at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The African traditional society places a high premium on fecundity and therefore, views infertility as a personal tragedy. Prolonged infertility might lead to suicidal tendencies, stigmatization, marital instability, and enormous psychological stress. In recent times in Nigeria, there appears to be an upsurge in the number of couples investigated for infertility using hysterosalpingography (HSG).

Objective: To observe the trend of HSG findings at a foremost tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

Methods: A consecutive enlistment of HSG radiographs concluded and reported on between July 2014 to December 2018. Using an inclusion criteria of patients who had an initial ultrasound scan prior to HSG as noted from radiologists reports, a sample size of 623 radiographs was enlisted from a HSG population of 2,624 cases. Patients’ demographic information were extracted from their request cards and radiologists’ reports.

Results: Patients were aged 22 – 54 (mean: 36.30 ± 6.00) years, with a modal age range of 31 – 40 year (58.5 %) showing the highest throughput. Hysterosalpingography abnormalities were in two broad sites of uterus and fallopian tubes with the former showing a higher frequency ((n = 362, 58.11 %). Specifically, fibroid (n = 198, 31.80 %) and congenital anomalies (n = 24, 3.80 %) were the most and least prevalent abnormalities, respectively.

Conclusions: Women aged 31 – 40 years were the most common patients for HSG, and uterine fibroid was the most common abnormality found in this study.