Made by DATEXIS (Data Science and Text-based Information Systems) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
Funded by The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Grant: 01MD19013D, Smart-MD Project, Digital Technologies
AS has a reported incidence of 25% of D&Cs performed 1–4 weeks post-partum, up to 30.9% of D&Cs performed for missed miscarriages and 6.4% of D&Cs performed for incomplete miscarriages. In another study, 40% of patients who underwent repeated D&C for retained products of conception after missed miscarriage or retained placenta developed AS.
In the case of missed miscarriages, the time period between fetal demise and curettage may increase the likelihood of adhesion formation due to fibroblastic activity of the remaining tissue.
The risk of AS also increases with the number of procedures: one study estimated the risk to be 16% after one D&C and 32% after 3 or more D&Cs. However, a single curettage often underlies the condition.
In an attempts to estimate the prevalence of AS in the general population, it was found in 1.5% of women undergoing hysterosalpingography HSG, and between 5 and 39% of women with recurrent miscarriage.
After miscarriage, a review estimated the prevalence of AS to be approximately 20% (95% confidence interval: 13% to 28%).
The extent of adhesion formation is critical. Mild to moderate adhesions can usually be treated with success. Extensive obliteration of the uterine cavity or fallopian tube openings (ostia) and deep endometrial or myometrial trauma may require several surgical interventions and/or hormone therapy or even be uncorrectable. If the uterine cavity is adhesion free but the ostia remain obliterated, IVF remains an option. If the uterus has been irreparably damaged, surrogacy or adoption may be the only options.
Depending on the degree of severity, AS may result in infertility, repeated miscarriages, pain from trapped blood, and future obstetric complications If left untreated, the obstruction of menstrual flow resulting from adhesions can lead to endometriosis in some cases.
Patients who carry a pregnancy even after treatment of IUA may have an increased risk of having abnormal placentation including placenta accreta where the placenta invades the uterus more deeply, leading to complications in placental separation after delivery. Premature delivery, second-trimester pregnancy loss, and uterine rupture are other reported complications. They may also develop incompetent cervix where the cervix can no longer support the growing weight of the fetus, the pressure causes the placenta to rupture and the mother goes into premature labour. Cerclage is a surgical stitch which helps support the cervix if needed.
Pregnancy and live birth rate has been reported to be related to the initial severity of the adhesions with 93, 78, and 57% pregnancies achieved after treatment of mild, moderate and severe adhesions, respectively and resulting in 81, 66, and 32% live birth rates, respectively. The overall pregnancy rate after adhesiolysis was 60% and the live birth rate was 38.9% according to one study.
Age is another factor contributing to fertility outcomes after treatment of AS. For women under 35 years of age treated for severe adhesions, pregnancy rates were 66.6% compared to 23.5% in women older than 35.
Over one million cases of acute salpingitis are reported every year in the US, but the number of incidents is probably larger, due to incomplete and untimely reporting methods and that many cases are reported first when the illness has gone so far that it has developed chronic complications. For women age 16–25, salpingitis is the most common serious infection. It affects approximately 11% of females of reproductive age.
Salpingitis has a higher incidence among members of lower socioeconomic classes. However, this is thought of being an effect of earlier sex debut, multiple partners, and decreased ability to receive proper health care rather than any independent risk factor for salpingitis.
As an effect of an increased risk due to multiple partners, the prevalence of salpingitis is highest for people age 15–24 years. Decreased awareness of symptoms and less will to use contraceptives are also common in this group, raising the occurrence of salpingitis.
In the United States, uterus didelphys is reported to occur in 0.1–0.5% of women. It is difficult to know the exact occurrence of this anomaly, as it may go undetected in the absence of medical and reproductive complications.
Most studies of uterine malformations are based on populations of women who have experienced a pregnancy loss and thus do not address the issue of the prevalence in the general population. A screening study by Woelfer et al. of women without a history of reproductive problems found that about 5% of women had an arcuate uterus when they defined an arcuate uterus any fundal protrusion into the cavity that had an apical angle of more than 90 degrees. Accordingly, it was the most common uterine anomaly, followed by septate uterus (3%) and bicornuate uterus (0.5%).
The occurrence of all types of paramesonephric duct abnormalities in women is estimated around 0.4%.
A bicornuate uterus is estimated to occur in 0.1-0.5% of women in the U.S.
It is possible that this figure is an underestimate, since subtle abnormalities often go undetected. Some intersex individuals whose external genitalia are perceived as being male may nonetheless have a variably shaped uterus.
For the affected, 20% need hospitalization.
Regarding patients age 15–44 years, 0.29 per 100,000 dies from salpingitis.
However, salpingitis can also lead to infertility because the eggs released in ovulation can't get contact with the sperm. Approximately 75,000-225,000 cases of infertility in the US are caused by salpingitis. The more times one has the infection, the greater the risk of infertility. With one episode of salpingitis, the risk of infertility is 8-17%. With 3 episodes of salpingitis, the risk is 40-60%, although the exact risk depends on the severity of each episode.
In addition, damaged oviducts increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy. Thus, if one has had salpingitis, the risk of a pregnancy to become ectopic is 7 to 10-fold as large. Half of ectopic pregnancies are due to a salpingitis infection.
Other complications are:
- Infection of ovaries and uterus
- Infection of sex partners
- An abscess on the ovary
Pregnancies in a bicornuate uterus are usually considered high risk and require extra monitoring because of association with poor reproduction potential.
A bicornuate uterus is associated with increased adverse reproductive outcomes, such as:
- Recurrent pregnancy loss
- Preterm birth: The rate of preterm delivery is 15 to 25%. A pregnancy may not reach full term in a bicornuate uterus when the baby begins to grow in either of the uterine horns. A short cervical length seems to be a good predictor of preterm delivery in women with a bicornuate uterus.
- Malpresentation (breech birth or transverse presentation): a breech presentation occurs in 40-50% of pregnancies with a partial bicornuate uterus and not at all (0%) in a complete bicornuate uterus.
- Deformity: Offspring of mothers with a bicornuate uterus are at high risk for "deformities and disruptions" and "malformations."
Previously, a bicornuate uterus was thought to be associated with infertility, but recent studies have not confirmed such an association.
A number of twin gestations have occurred where each uterus carried its pregnancy separately. A recent example occurred on February 26, 2009, when Sarah Reinfelder of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan delivered two healthy, although seven weeks premature, infants by cesarean section at Marquette General Hospital. It is possible that the deliveries occur at different times, thus the delivery interval could be days or even weeks.
Diets high in fruits and vegetables tend to lower the risk of developing fibroids. Fruits, especially citrus, have a greater protective benefit than vegetables. Normal dietary levels of vitamin D is shown to reduce the risk of developing fibroids. No protective benefit has been found with the consumption of folate, whole grains, soy products, or fiber. No association between the consumption of fat, eggs, dairy products has been shown to increase the risk of fibroids.
The condition may not be known to the affected individual and not result in any reproductive problems; thus normal pregnancies occur. Indeed, there is no consensus on the relationship of the arcuate uterus and recurrent pregnancy loss. Accordingly, the condition may be a variation or a pathology.
One view maintains that the condition is associated with a higher risk for miscarriage, premature birth, and malpresentation. Thus a study that evaluated women with uterine bleeding by hysteroscopy found that 6.5% of subjects displayed the arcuate uterus and had evidence of reproductive impairments. A study based on hysterosalpingraphic detected arcuate lesions documented increased fetal loss and obstetrical complications as a risk for affected women. Woelfer found that the miscarriage risk is more pronounced in the second trimester. In contrast, a study utilizing 3-D ultrasonography to document the prevalence of the arcuate uterus in a gynecological population found no evidence of increased risk of reproductive loss; in this study 3.1% of women had an arcuate uterus making it the most common uterine anomaly; this prevalence was similar than in women undergoing sterilization and lower than in women with recurrent pregnancy loss.
Most studies are based on populations of women who have experienced a pregnancy loss and thus do not address the issue of the prevalence in the general population. A screening study by Woelfer et al. of women without a history of reproductive problems found that about 3% of women had a uterine septation; the most common anomaly in their study was an arcuate uterus (5%), while 0.5% were found to have a bicornuate uterus. In contrast, in about 15% of patients with recurrent pregnancy loss anatomical problems are thought to be causative with the septate uterus as the most common finding.
Interstitial pregnancies account for 2–4% of all tubal pregnancies, or for 1 in 2,500 to 5,000 live births. About one in fifty women with an interstitial pregnancy dies. Patients with an interstitial pregnancies have a 7-times higher mortality than those with ectopics in general. With the growing use of assisted reproductive technologies, the incidence of interstitial pregnancy is rising.
Subinvolution is a medical condition in which after childbirth, the uterus does not return to its normal size.
The cause is not entirely clear. Risk factors include having a family history of the condition.
Adenomyosis itself can cause infertility issues, however, fertility can be improved if the adenomyosis has resolved following hormone therapies like levonorgestrel therapy. The discontinuation of medication or removal of IUD can be timed to be coordinated with fertility treatments. There has also been one report of a successful pregnancy and healthy birth following high-frequency ultrasound ablation of adenomyosis.
Preterm labour and premature rupture of membranes both occur more frequently in women with adenomyosis.
In sub-fertile women who received in-vitro fertilization (IVF), women with adenomyosis were less likely to become pregnant and subsequently more likely to experience a miscarriage. Given this, it is encouraged to screen women for adenomyosis by TVUS or MRI before starting assisted reproduction treatments (ART).
Many factors can contribute to the loss of uterine muscle tone, including:
- overdistention of the uterus
- multiple gestations
- polyhydramnios
- fetal macrosomia
- prolonged labor
- oxytocin augmentation of labor
- grand multiparity (having given birth 5 or more times)
- precipitous labor (labor lasting less than 3 hours)
- magnesium sulfate treatment of preeclampsia
- chorioamnionitis
- halogenated anesthetics
- uterine leiomyomata
- full bladder
- retained colyledon, placental fragments
- placenta previa
- placental abruption
- constriction ring
- incomplete separation of the placenta
10% of cases occur in women who are ovulating, but progesterone secretion is prolonged because estrogen levels are low. This causes irregular shedding of the uterine lining and break-through bleeding. Some evidence has associated Ovulatory DUB with more fragile blood vessels in the uterus.
It may represent a possible endocrine dysfunction, resulting in menorrhagia or metrorrhagia.
Mid-cycle bleeding may indicate a transient estrogen decline, while late-cycle bleeding may indicate progesterone deficiency.
Adenomyosis is a benign but often progressing condition. It is advocated that adenomyosis poses no increased risk for cancer development. However, both entities could coexist and the endometrial tissue within the myometrium could harbor endometrioid adenocarcinoma, with potentially deep myometrial invasion. As the condition is estrogen-dependent, menopause presents a natural cure. Ultrasound features of adenomyosis will still be present after menopause. People with adenomyosis are also more likely to have uterine fibroids or endometriosis.
Women with the condition may be asymptomatic and unaware of having a uniconuate uterus; normal pregnancy may occur. In a review of the literature Reichman et al. analyzed the data on pregnancy outcome of 290 women with a unicornuate uterus. 175 women had conceived for a total of 468 pregnancies. They found that about 50% of patients delivered a live baby. The rates for ectopic pregnancy was 2.7%, for miscarriage 34%, and for preterm delivery 20%, while the intrauterine demise rate was 10%. Thus patients with a unicornuate uterus are at a higher risk for pregnancy loss and obstetrical complications.
The prevalence of uterine malformation is estimated to be 6.7% in the general population, slightly higher (7.3%) in the infertility population, and significantly higher in a population of women with a history of recurrent miscarriages (16%).
Cervical agenesis is estimated to occur in 1 in 80,000 females. It is often associated with deformity of the vagina; one study found that 48% of patients with cervical agenesis had a normal, functional vagina, while the rest of the cases were accompanied by vaginal hypoplasia.
Some risk factors associated with the development of uterine fibroids are modifiable.
Fibroids are more common in obese women. Fibroids are dependent on estrogen and progesterone to grow and therefore relevant only during the reproductive years.
Females that have received estradiol as a mismating shot (abortifacient) in diestrus are at risk for more severe disease because estrogen increases the number of progesterone receptors in the endometrium. 25 percent of females receiving estradiol in diestrus develop pyometra. Pyometra is less common in female cats because progesterone is only released by the ovaries after mating. Also in cats, the risk of developing the disease differ depending on breed.
A uterine scar from a previous cesarean section is the most common risk factor. (In one review, 52% had previous cesarean scars.) Other forms of uterine surgery that result in full-thickness incisions (such as a myomectomy), dysfunctional labor, labor augmentation by oxytocin or prostaglandins, and high parity may also set the stage for uterine rupture. In 2006, an extremely rare case of uterine rupture in a first pregnancy with no risk factors was reported.