You can often still conceive and bring home a baby when you have intrauterine adhesions

Many causes of female infertility are due to issues with the uterus (womb). Some patients have uterine fibroids or polyps that interfere with pregnancy. Others have intrauterine adhesions that can make it more difficult to conceive and carry a baby.

Having adhesions in the uterus doesn’t have to put an end to dreams of parenthood, though. The Fertility Center of Las Vegas can help. Our Las Vegas fertility doctors can diagnose and treat this problem to help patients become parents.

What are intrauterine adhesions?

Many patients are unfamiliar with this fertility issue. That’s why our doctors take time to help patients understand this diagnosis and how it affects the uterus.

First, it makes sense to talk about the uterus. The inner wall of the uterus is the endometrium. It is what the body sheds during a menstrual period. The endometrium is also where an embryo implants during pregnancy.

• What causes adhesions in the uterus? Sometimes, a patient has an infection or an injury from surgery, pregnancy or a device. When it affects the endometrium, scar tissue can form. This is what we call intrauterine adhesions, or in some cases, Asherman’s syndrome.
• What do adhesions do to the uterus? A healthy uterus can expand much like a balloon as a baby grows in the womb. Adhesions can interfere with the uterus’ ability to expand as a pregnancy develops.
• What do adhesions look like? These adhesions can be mild, with thin, stretchy bands of tissue. In more severe cases, the scar tissue can appear as thick bands.

Many patients with intrauterine adhesions don’t have symptoms. As a result, many people don’t learn they have them until they visit a fertility doctor when they can’t conceive or have had multiple miscarriages.

How do fertility doctors diagnose and treat adhesions?

Adhesions don’t have to keep you from starting or growing your family. The right diagnosis and treatment can help make parenthood possible. When our Las Vegas fertility doctors suspect Asherman’s syndrome, they can order several tests to check for it.

• Hysteroscopy is the most accurate method to diagnose this issue. It involves placing a thin, telescope-like tool through the cervix to view the uterus.
• Hysterosalpingogram (HSG), hysterosalpingo-contrast sonogram (HyCoSy) or sonohysterogram (SHG) can also help doctors make a diagnosis using imaging tools.

After finding this issue, patients ask, “How do you remove intrauterine adhesions?” Our Las Vegas fertility doctors often treat adhesions and Asherman’s syndrome using minimally invasive surgery. Through a hysteroscopic procedure, our team can remove the adhesions.

The likelihood of successfully conceiving after treatment varies depending on the severity of the adhesions.

• Those with mild to moderate adhesions have a successful full-term pregnancy about 70% to 80% of the time.
• Those with more severe cases have a 20% to 40% chance of carrying a baby to term. In these cases, in vitro fertilization (IVF) with gestational surrogacy can be an option.

If you’d like to explore your fertility treatment options in the face of adhesions, we are here to help you. Contact us to schedule an appointment and get the fertility care you need and deserve.