Balloon Catheter Technique May Help Infertile Women

A tiny balloon of the type that is pushed through the clogged arteries of heart disease patients can also clear blocked Fallopian tubes, bringing hope to thousands of women who are now infertile, researchers said today.

Tubal blockage is the principal source of as much as 30% of all female infertility, the report from Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center in Chicago said.

But in a group of women suffering from the condition, the balloon technique produced a 34% pregnancy rate within the first three months after their tubes were cleared, the researchers said.

The study was published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Balloons pushed along by thin catheters have been used for years to clear blocked blood vessels. When used to clean out blocked coronary arteries, the technique is known as balloon angioplasty.

In the procedure detailed today, catheters were passed through the cervical canal and uterus and into the Fallopian tubes. When the tip of the catheter reached a blockage, a tiny balloon at the end was inflated, clearing the obstruction.

The procedure was done on an outpatient basis, with the women under either local or general anesthesia. In the past, such blockages have been cleared by microsurgery, which is costly and requires general anesthesia in all cases, the report said.

Another procedure used in cases of tubal blockage is in-vitro fertilization, in which a fertilized egg is implanted in the uterus. But that process is also costly, is time consuming and works only about 16% of the time, the report said.

In the study, 77 women were treated at the Chicago center and at five other hospitals--the Yale School of Medicine, Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, the University of Maryland in Baltimore and County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.