Female infertility or sterility (from the Latin word sterilis – infertile) is a pathological condition of the body with the inability to fertilize.
Female infertility is one of the most common and sad gynecological problems.
It is customary to consider a marriage infertile in which, with regular sexual activity and the absence of contraception, pregnancy does not begin for 2 years.
Infertility or, as they say in later years, a decrease in fertility (fertility) is not an independent disease, but is a symptom of a number of common diseases and diseases of the genital organs. Not often there are several causes of female infertility.
There are primary infertility, when there has never been a pregnancy from the very beginning of sexual activity, and secondary, when, after the previous one or several pregnancies (childbirth, abortion, ectopic pregnancy), pregnancy does not begin in subsequent years. It is also customary to single out absolute female infertility associated with irreversible pathological changes in the genital organs, excluding any possibility of conception, and relative – the cause that caused it can be eliminated.
Female infertility is observed, according to various authors, in 40-60% of cases of infertile marriages.
Causes of primary infertility:
- underdevelopment of the genital organs of a woman (infantilism), all kinds of anomalies in their development and all kinds of hormonal disorders accompanying them;
- incorrect position of the uterus, which creates unfavorable mechanical obstacles for conception;
- functional insufficiency of the sex glands, manifested by various menstrual irregularities.
Causes of secondary infertility:
- inflammatory diseases of the organs of the female reproductive system: inflammatory diseases of the fallopian tubes and ovaries (salpingoophoritis), cervix (erosion, endocervicitis), vagina (vaginitis, vaginosis);
- sexual infections: gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, chlamydia, mycoplasmosis, herpesvirus and cytomegalovirus infections and others;
- complications after abortion;
- genital tumors, endometriosis;
- traumatic injuries of the perineum, postoperative complications;
- diseases of the endocrine glands (endocrine diseases);
- general debilitating diseases and chronic intoxications (alcohol, drugs, nicotine, industrial hazards, etc.);
- ionizing radiation, radiation;
- malnutrition;
- biological incompatibility (immunological infertility).
Identification of the causes of female infertility is a very difficult problem, since it is often caused by several factors. The scope of the examination should be determined only by the doctor. It may include examination, examination using mirrors, scrapings for genital infections, oncocytology, the degree of purity of the vagina. In the majority of cases, it is necessary to measure rectal temperature during the menstrual cycle, ultrasound monitoring of the maturation of the follicle in the ovary, changes in sex and other hormones.
In some cases, it will be necessary to conduct a study on the patency of the fallopian tubes and the Shuvarsky-Huner test (on the penetration of spermatozoa through the cervical mucus).
The probability of improbability for fertilization in a man is excluded. When infertility is established in a woman, treatment is focused on eliminating the causative moments of its occurrence.
Due to the variety of reasons for the violation of the reproductive function of a woman, the treatment of infertility is very complex and always lengthy. After establishing the diagnosis, first of all, the doctor draws up a treatment plan, which is determined by the general condition of the patient and the nature of the disease that caused infertility. Depending on this, the treatment is anti-inflammatory, surgical, hormone therapy.