Purpose: To evaluate in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome in women with genital tuberculosis (GTB).Methods: One hundred and fifty-five women with genital tuberculosis constituted the study group (Group A), consisting of 25 patients with endometrial tuberculosis (Group A1) and 130 patients with tubal tuberculosis (Group A2). Women with non-tuberculous tubal infertility were matched by age and study period served as controls (Group B).Results: Patients with GTB had significantly reduced endometrial thickness, high-quality embryos rate, implantation rate as compared with controls (p < .05), no differences were found in other pregnancy parameters. In addition, the endometrial thickness, fertilization rate, high-quality embryos rate and implantation rate were also significantly lower in women with endometrial tuberculosis as compared with controls. And the cumulative pregnancy rate in endometrial tuberculosis was significantly decreased compared with tubal tuberculosis and controls (p < .05). However, IVF/ICSI pregnancy outcomes in patients with tubal tuberculosis showed no difference as compared with controls (p > .05). Also, rates of miscarriage, preterm birth, obstetrical complications, and neonatal problems did not differ among three groups.Conclusions: In conclusion, IVF/ICSI-ET remains the most optimal method for the treatment of female infertility associated with tubal tuberculosis. However, patients with endometrium tuberculosis showed significantly reduced fertilization, implantation and cumulative pregnancy rates.
Keywords: Genital tuberculosis; endometrial tuberculosis; in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer; pregnancy outcome; tubal tuberculosis.