Chapter 40: NaProTECHNOLOGY in Infertility

Hilgers TW

Restorative Reproductive Medicine · NaProTechnology

Chapter 40: NaProTECHNOLOGY in Infertility

Hilgers TW

The Medical and Surgical Practice of NaProTECHNOLOGY, 509-540, 2004

RRM Academy Synopsis

NaProTECHNOLOGY evaluation identifies multiple causes of infertility

In 250 consecutive laparoscopies for infertility, a NaProTECHNOLOGY textbook chapter reports that endometriosis was the main diagnosis in about 7 out of 10. In a separate table of 660 patients, most had several female diagnoses at once.

Key Findings

In 250 consecutive laparoscopies performed for infertility, endometriosis was the main postoperative diagnosis in 182 patients (72.8%), against 5 to 25 percent cited from major medical textbooks.
In the diagnostic table for 660 patients with primary and secondary infertility, endometriosis had the highest share of female diagnoses (77.4%); totals exceed 100 percent because most patients had several diagnoses.
The same diagnostic table lists a normospermic male partner in 45.5% of patients, with severe oligospermia in 8.1% and azoospermia in 1.7%.
Among 289 patients with infertility, 68.2% had limited or dry mucus cycles, compared with limited mucus cycles in 21.7% of normal fertility controls.
Ovulation-related defects occurred in 56 to 61 percent of patients with infertility, as determined by serial follicular ultrasound examination.

RRM Context

NaProTECHNOLOGY, the method formalized by Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers, belongs to the restorative reproductive medicine approaches that treat infertility as a sign of underlying disease. Restorative methods share common principles: a full evaluation before treatment, attention to both partners, and care that works with the body's own cycle. Cycle charting gives a day-by-day record that helps time testing and reveal patterns of disease. IVF bypasses infertility without establishing why conception fails, whereas a cause-based evaluation seeks the diagnosis first.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

This chapter describes the NaProTECHNOLOGY evaluation and treatment of infertility, which Hilgers builds on the position that infertility is a symptom of underlying disease. The evaluation protocols are organized by the type of menstrual cycle at presentation, whether regular, long and irregular, or amenorrheic, and combine CrMS charting with seminal fluid analysis, hormone and ultrasound studies, and diagnostic laparoscopy, hysteroscopy and selective hysterosalpingogram. Among the female diagnoses reported after complete evaluation, the four most frequent were endometriosis (77.4%), target organ dysfunction (68.2%), ovulation-related disorders (56.5%) and luteal phase deficiency (53.7%), with most patients having several of these at once. Hilgers reports a multiple pregnancy rate of 3.2 percent in infertility patients treated at the Pope Paul VI Institute.

Topics

Restorative Reproductive Medicine › NaProTechnology › Protocols and Framework · Fertility Awareness › Effectiveness › Comparative Effectiveness · Diagnostics › Cycle Biomarkers › Cervical Mucus Monitoring

Thomas W Hilgers

Tom Hilgers, T Hilgers

Hilgers et al. 2004, Hilgers 2004

Chapter 40: NaProTECHNOLOGY in Infertility

NaProTECHNOLOGY evaluation identifies multiple causes of infertility

Key Findings

RRM Context

Abstract

Topics

By this author

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