What are the surgical treatment options for infertility in women?

Infertility is the inability of a woman to conceive or carry her pregnancy to term successfully. Women suffer from infertility problems due to various reasons such as endometriosis, fibroids, cervical stenosis, ovarian cysts, and others. Although surgical procedures are available for treating infertility problems in women, most women with infertility opt for assisted reproductive treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Why Doctors Suggest Surgical Treatment for Infertility

Doctors suggest surgical treatment for infertility in women to check for issues in their reproductive organs and based on the severity of the issue, they opt for various procedures. Generally, doctors treat the conditions that lead to infertility with minimally invasive laparoscopy and hysteroscopy that are performed in the outpatient setting. However, few surgeries are performed inside the hospital operating room premises.

Various surgical options are listed below:
Laparoscopy is a procedure where the fertility doctor uses a narrow fiber optic telescope to insert into your body through a small incision near the navel. There are different laparoscopic procedures performed for various diagnoses and treatments. These are:

• Tuboplasty: It is done for repairing the fallopian tubes so that a woman is able to conceive.
• Treating endometriosis: Endometriosis often leads to infertility and to treat the same, a laparoscopic procedure is performed.
• Adhesiolysis: In case of diagnosis of pelvic adhesion, laparoscopy can be used to treat the same.

Hysteroscopy is also an outpatient procedure where the fertility doctor uses a narrow fiber optic telescope to insert into the uterus through the cervix of a woman to check for adhesions inside the uterus and remove them surgically. Various hysteroscopic procedures performed by the doctors include:

• Adhesiolysis: Removing adhesions present inside the uterus
• Myomectomy: Removing fibroids in the uterus
• Correcting congenital abnormalities of the uterus like uterine septum (septal resection,polyp) or endometrial polyps

Microsurgery is performed to treat minor deformities in the reproductive tract.

• Microsurgical tubal reanastomosis: For reversing a tubal ligation, this microsurgery is performed where the two ends of the fallopian tubes are reconnected.
• Ovarian cystectomy: This procedure is performed to remove the cysts formed inside the ovary.
• Myomectomy: This procedure is also used for removing uterine fibroids.
• Salpingectomy: If the any one of the fallopian tubes develops a buildup of fluid(called hydrosalphinx), Salpingectomy is performed to remove that end of the fallopian tube.
• Salpingostomy: This microsurgery is performed to create a new opening in the part of the fallopian tube that is closest to the ovary.
• Fimbrioplasty: This procedure is carried out on the fallopian tube to rebuild its fringed ends in the case where the part of the tube closest to the ovary either develops scar tissues or is partially blocked.