What Are The Causes Of Blocked Tubes?

Have you ever wondered what caused blocked fallopian tubes, and whether blocked tubes was the reason behind your infertility? Did you also wonder whether there was any pain associated with blocked tubes, or whether they just silently sat in the background? We asked Dr John Gilliland these exact questions, and he explained it for us.

The big three things that are associated with infertility are problems with sperm, problems with eggs or problems with fallopian tubes. So, let’s talk about fallopian tubes.

As part of an early workup for infertility there is a test called a hysterosalpingogram, or abbreviated HSG, which is an x-ray test where a small catheter is placed in the cervix and dye is inject through the uterine cavity and out the fallopian tubes. The x-ray is able to see the dye so an x-ray is taken and so there is a photograph that basically shows the dye inside the uterus and going through the fallopian tubes. That is the most common way of assessing whether or not the tubes are open or blocked.

A lot of times a patient presents with infertility with no knowledge of whether or not their tubes are blocked. The only symptom frequently is just not getting pregnant, and so most of the time it doesn’t cause pain or other kinds of pain or symptoms. So often times it is not discovered until the patient present for evaluation with regards to their fertility and has a hysterosalpingogram.

There are situations where blocked fallopian tubes can actually fill up with fluid, and those are called hydrosalpinges. Hydro for water, salpinges for tubes. And those you can see by ultrasound but sometimes, actually many times tubal blockage cannot be seen by ultrasound.

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