Rudimentary heritage: Russian women will be able to get pregnant after ultrasound

Russian doctors have started using a painless technique to diagnose infertility. Instead of chemicals, a foam from her own blood plasma mixed with saline solution is used to check the fallopian tubes during ultrasound. The liquid not only relieves irritation and discomfort, but also has a therapeutic effect. According to doctors, many women who have not been able to get pregnant for many years are fertilized after the procedure. How it works and why plasma foam does not always eliminate the need for IVF is described in the Izvestia article.

Foam from blood plasma

Doctors at Sechenov University have started using a new painless method for diagnosing infertility. To check the patency of the fallopian tubes using ultrasound, they use the foamed blood plasma of the patient herself as a contrast agent. This makes the procedure comfortable, helps to relieve inflammation and create good conditions for conception. Plasma is isolated from a small amount of blood using special tubes and a centrifuge and mixed with saline solution.

"It turns out to be foam, which is perfectly visible on ultrasound and which is absolutely safe for a woman, because these are her own cells," said Dmitry Belousov, head of the ultrasound diagnostics department at the Sechenov Center for Motherhood and Childhood.

The new technology is not only a diagnostic method. Foamed blood plasma also has a therapeutic effect. As long as the solution passes through the reproductive organs, it reduces chronic inflammation and creates suitable conditions for conception, Dmitry Belousov noted.

Until recently, checking the patency of the fallopian tubes was a challenge for women. During a traditional X—ray, a contrast solution that allows the device to "see" the internal organs is injected quickly and under pressure, which is painful and unpleasant. In addition, iodine in the composition of the contrast agent can cause a reaction from itching and rash to dangerous conditions such as angioedema. An alternative to X—rays is laparoscopy, that is, examination through punctures in the abdomen, which involves anesthesia and surgery.

Removing obstacles to pregnancy

According to the new technology, the solution is injected into the uterine cavity slowly and smoothly, so the procedure is painless.

— Girls come to us who are scared in advance by stories about pain during a patency check. And when I tell them that the procedure has already been completed, but they have not felt anything, there is no limit to their amazement," Dmitry Belousov said.

As the doctor explained, the positive effect is similar to the methods of regenerative medicine. Blood plasma is used in PRP therapy, injecting it into the damaged area to accelerate healing and relieve inflammation. However, this will have an effect only in the absence of other severe pathologies that require surgical intervention.

According to Dmitry Belousov, in his practice there have already been cases when pregnancy occurred a short time after ultrasound with the use of an auto contrast, although couples had not been able to conceive a child for years before that. Several dozen women used the technique. The developers are currently preparing documents to patent the technology and make it available to as many patients as possible.

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According to Nadezhda Zaretskaya, a geneticist and obstetrician-gynecologist at the Kulakov Scientific Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, the diagnosis requires a substance that contrasts the fallopian tubes. And replacing the chemical preparation for this with a woman's own fluids eliminates allergic reactions.

— However, in any case, this is an intervention when a substance mechanically penetrates organs under pressure. This can restore the patency of the tubes if there was a small obstacle, and as a result, pregnancy may occur more often," the doctor said.

From a scientific point of view, the use of liquid from the patient's own material reduces the number of side effects. However, in nature, the fallopian tubes are not filled with anything, so it is difficult to say what long-term consequences such a procedure may have. It reduces the likelihood of adhesions. But the modern IVF technique has such broad indications that it allows a doctor not to study a woman's condition in such detail, but simply prescribe it for any problems with conception, said obstetrician-gynecologist Lyubov Yerofeyeva.