A hydrosalpinx is the medical name for a fallopian tube that has become filled with fluid due to injury or infection. The fallopian tubes normally function to ‘catch’ an egg each month as it is released from the ovary; the tubes are the meeting place for egg and sperm and the mechanism by which the fertilized egg travels to the uterus. Damage to this tiny and delicate passageway can inhibit conception and pregnancy. Hydrosalpinx usually affects both fallopian tubes, (even when only one tube is affected, there is usually some residual damage to the other).

CAUSES

Hydrosalpinx commonly results from a long-untreated infection in the fallopian tubes. A number of situations may lead to fallopian tube infection, including:

• The residual effects of a prior sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia or gonorrhea
• Prior ruptured appendix
• Excessive tissue buildup due to endometriosis

The inflammation and healing process resulting from such infection destroys the delicate finger-like fimbria, which extend from the end of the fallopian tube to the ovary. Fimbria are responsible for carrying the egg to waiting sperm and moving egg and sperm together for fertilization. When injured, fimbria become fused together, thus closing off the tubes. Fluid then collects in the fallopian tubes, making it impossible for them to function.

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms include:

• abdominal and pelvic pain
• unusual vaginal discharge

However, it is possible to have hydrosalpinx and not experience any symptoms.

Because hydrosalpinx impacts infertility, many women only discover they have the condition when trying to get pregnant.

 

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