Female Genital Tuberculosis: Hysteroscopy and Laparoscopy as Diagnostic Modality
摘要
Infertility is a global health issue affecting millions of reproductive age worldwide. In India, infertility is a social and public health issue. Among the various causes of infertility, female genital tuberculosis is one of the major causes of infertility in females especially in developing countries. It majorly affects fallopian tubes followed by endometrium, ovaries and cervix. Although being a common cause of infertility it poses a diagnostic dilemma due to its paucibacillary nature and lack of tests which have both good sensitivity and specificity. As most of the infertility patients undergo diagnostic hysteroscopy and laparoscopy for evaluation, it can be used as a tool to detect tubercular infection when other tests are inconclusive and suspicion is high. Patients might have negative endometrial samples on CBNAAT; genital tuberculosis can be detected by hysteroscopy and laparoscopy. Patients who do not undergo hysteroscopy and laparoscopy either due to inaccessibility or due to patient’s refusal to undergo invasive procedure may remain missed on diagnosis of genital tuberculosis. Most common hysteroscopic findings are periosteal fibrosis, micropolyps, pale endometrium, poor distension of cavity and intrauterine adhesions. Most common laparoscopic findings are various grades of abdominopelvic adhesions, hydrosalpinx, pyosalpinx, tubercles, encysted ascites, tuberculomas, etc. Our study was conducted to observe various hysteroscopy and laparoscopy findings which can be used as a surrogate to detect genital tuberculosis.
ObjectiveTo study the prevalence of genital tuberculosis among infertile patients by hysteroscopy and laparoscopy and endometrial CBNAAT samples.
Materials and MethodsIt is a retrospective observational study done at a tertiary care centre from January 2021 to December 2022. Patients undergoing hysteroscopy and laparoscopy as a part of evaluation of infertility were included in the study. Antitubercular treatment was given if either for hysteroscopy and laparoscopy findings or endometrial samples suggested tubercular infection.
ResultsThe prevalence of genital tuberculosis was 27.12% among infertile patients. 14.2% endometrial samples were positive for CBNAAT whereas 21.4% women had findings suggestive of tuberculosis on hysteroscopy and laparoscopy.
ConclusionHysteroscopy and laparoscopy findings can be used to detect female genital tuberculosis and start treatment even if the endometrial samples are negative for CBNAAT.