A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF SALINE SONOSALPINGOGRAPHY AS A TEST FOR TUBAL PATENCY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF INFERTILITY

Abstract

Background: Tubal pathology is one of the major causes of infertility and evaluation of fallopian tubes forms an essential part of work up of infertility patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate tubal patency by Saline Sonosalpingography and compare the results with that of hysterosalpingography. Methods: A total of 22 patients with primary infertility and 13 patients with secondary infertility attending our Obstetrics and Gynecology department were recruited for the study from July 2019 to June 2020. All the study subjects underwent Saline Sonosalpingography on day 7 to day 9 and Hysterosalpingography on 7th to 11th day of the menstrual cycle. Data was collected and compared to assess the sensitivity and specicity of Sonosalpingography with Hysterosalpingography as reference standard. Results: Sonosalpingography (SSG) has 98.18% sensitivity and 66.67% specicity in comparison to hysterosalpingography (HSG). Analysis of the raw data gave positive predictive value of 91.52% and negative predictive value of 90.9%. Near perfect agreement (Cohen's Kappa coefcient =0.9) was seen between the results of the two methods (SSG and HSG). Conclusions: Sonosalpingogrpahy has a high sensitivity for tubal patency and is less invasive. It is found to be a reliable and relatively less expensive diagnostic procedure in the management of infertility in females. Easy availability and accessibility of ultrasound in all primary health care centres denitely can prove superior to conventional method of diagnosis of tubal patency in such patient.