Making Babies: Gynaecological Complaints

Yeah,

so gynae, typically gynecological complaints that might have a bearing on either getting pregnant or the impact they might have on pregnancy.

I suppose the three that spring to mind that most people will have heard of would be endometriosis, which has been very much in the news with the minister's announcement of an endometriosis strategy in the last probably six, eight months.

So patients with endometriosis often feel that their voice isn't heard because they can complain of... perhaps less specific, more vague symptoms, but nonetheless have quite significant disease.

And the disease is largely going to be diagnosed on the basis of a laparoscopy, where you actually visualise the endometriotic lesions in the pelvic sidewalls around the ovaries.

So depending on how the endometriosis is impacting on the patient, it might affect how the fallopian tubes work.

and therefore the transport of the egg, fertilised egg, to the uterine cavity.

But the ovary can also be encased in adhesion, so the patient may not be ovulating, functionally ovulating, as in the egg is released and is available for fertilisation.

PCOS is another condition where we know that patients who have PCOS often aren't ovulating on a regular basis.

I suppose the third thing then is fibroids.

So all of these things can theoretically or more likely impact on fertility, but also the outcome.