Salpingitis isthmica nodosa: review and hysterosalpingography diagnosis of 4 cases in a private radiology clinic

Objective: to identify the radiological findings of salpingitis isthmica nodosa (SIN) through hysterosalpingography and evaluate the site of involvement and its impact on infertility. Methods: 2,800 protocols were reviewed in a retrospective study between January of 1987 and January of 1997, in patients with a clinical history of female infertility; four of them with a radiological diagnosis of SIN. Ethnicity, age, marital status, current clinical complaints, medical history, location, and side of involvement were analyzed. Results: among the four patients with SIN, three were dark-skin, and one was Caucasian, with an average age of 35 years at diagnosis, two single, one married, and one divorcee. Three patients presented complaints of secondary infertility with previous tubal pregnancy history, and another with primary infertility without pregnancy history. In the four patients with SIN, the tubal portion affected was the cornual isthmian, bilateral tubal in three, and unilateral in one. Regarding peritonization, one showed positive bilateral Cotte proof, two with complete bilateral obstruction, and one with positive Cotte in one of the tubes. Conclusion: SIN is more common in dark-skin patients, in the mean age of 35 years, with a clinical history of infertility, with initial and recurrent tubal pregnancy, and subsequent tubal obstruction characterized by lesion in the Isthmian cornual portion of the fallopian tube, usually with bilateral involvement.