Female pelvic tuberculosis with special reference to infertility: Study of 140 cases in Ontario

Abstract

One hundred and forty cases of pelvic tuberculosis occurring in Ontario have been reviewed. This relatively uncommon disease occurs after the age of puberty and is more frequent in non-Canadian born, than among those born in Canada. It tends to manifest itself 10 or more years after the primary infection; only one third of the patients however gave a history of a previous extrapelvic disease. Infertility was the commonest complaint; though one in 5 patients had patent Fallopian tubes. Forty-two per cent of the patients had no palpable pelvic pathology. Tuberculin testing of patients complaining of infertility and more frequent bacteriological examination of curettings would improve the chance of earlier diagnosis. In the majority of cases in this series chemotherapy was inadequate and the pregnancy rate following treatment was low, with half of the pregnancies occurring in the Fallopian tube.