The age at which couples are having their first children is increasing from year to year. In the 70s, for example, the average age of the woman was close to 24-25 years, and since the 80s has not stopped increasing until in 2011 the barrier of 30 years was first overcome (30.11 years), which has continued to rise up to 31.55 years on average in 2014.
This increase is causing more and more couples to have problems conceiving, and in many cases they have to end up using fertility support methods, such as insemination or in vitro fertilization. Now, a method that is not new, because it is already 100 years old, could help some women to conceive their baby without having to go through IVF, and in a much cheaper way: irrigate the fallopian tubes with oil.
It was already used in 1917
100 years ago, this method began to be used, which is currently barely taken into account. Apparently, many women managed to get pregnant, even when they had been considered sterile, by irrigating with water or iodized poppyseed oil the tubes to carry out an x-ray.
That is, to be able to observe the anatomy of the tubes well, liquid was introduced before doing what is known as hysterosalpingography, after observing that many women undergoing the test managed to get pregnant (this test is still done now, but it is not considered as fertility method).
Not knowing if the type of solution used had anything to do with subsequent success, a group of Dutch researchers decided to carry out a study to see what happened by irrigating the tubes of a group of women with fertility problems with both solutions.
Everyone benefited
For the study, they had more than 1,100 women in sterility treatment that were divided into two groups: some received iodized poppyseed oil and the others a water-based contrast.
They observed that at six months practically 40 percent of those in the oil group managed to get pregnant, by 29 percent in the water group.
Interestingly, the aforementioned oil is available in about 50 countries around the world, so it could be considered as an option for many women, before undergoing other more expensive or invasive procedures.
As we read in Medline, researchers report it this way:
Successful pregnancy rates were significantly higher in the oil group, and after just one treatment. This is an important result for women who have had no choice but to seek IVF. Offer new hope to sterile couples.
The only unknown is why. They do not know what causes this increased probability of pregnancy and that is why they consider that the next step would be to investigate the processes that occur in the woman's body when her tubes are irrigated with such a liquid. However, considering that these contrasts have been used for 100 years without significant side effects, they consider it a great option to consider before carrying out IVF, as it can increase the likelihood of successful relations with the couple, as well as pregnancy after artificial insemination.
Not only is there a known benefit, but this irrigation procedure also costs a fraction of what an IVF cycle costs. Since 40 percent of the women in the oil group achieved a successful pregnancy, that's 40 percent of couples who could avoid having to face the immense costs and emotions associated with IVF.
In fact, there are many professionals who had realized this and that, after performing the test with contrast, recommend couples to have sex in the weeks and months after, or that if they have to do insemination, do not take too long.
But contrasts with oil are used less and less
Although they are more successful at the reproductive level, as we have seen in the study, oil-based contrasts are no longer used in many centers because they carry a slightly higher risk of pelvic inflammatory disease and other side effects, which may be pelvic pain during one or two days, mild vaginal bleeding, fever and chills. And rarely does a pelvic infection or an allergic reaction to contrast occur.
In any case, the researchers believe that in fertility centers should be proposed as a method prior to IVF, in case it works, especially since IVF also has certain possible associated side effects and a much higher cost.
