Genetics and Immunology · Reproductive Immunology

Peritoneal fluid cell populations in infertility patients

Haney AF, Muscato JJ, Weinberg JB

Published June 1981 Fertility and Sterility, 35(6), 696-698
DOI 10.1016/s0015-0282(16)45567-6 PMID 7195828
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RRM Academy Synopsis

Endometriosis linked to more peritoneal macrophages in infertility

A small 1981 study checked pelvic fluid in 32 women who had surgery. Some were fertile. Others were infertile, with or without endometriosis. Women with endometriosis had more macrophages than the rest.

Key Findings

  • Fertile women having sterilization surgery (n=10) had fewer total peritoneal macrophages than infertile women without endometriosis (n=12) (P < 0.002) or infertile women with endometriosis (n=10) (P < 0.002).
  • Infertile women with endometriosis (n=10) had significantly more macrophages than infertile women without endometriosis (n=12) (P < 0.02).
  • Across all three groups, roughly 90% of peritoneal fluid cells were macrophages; the mix of macrophages, lymphocytes, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes was similar in every group.
  • Peritoneal fluid volume was nearly twice as high in the endometriosis group as the other two groups, per Table 1.

Interpretation

This is a small, single-center study from 1981. The study is not a randomized trial. The researchers compared pelvic fluid from 32 women who had surgery: some fertile, some infertile without endometriosis, and some infertile with it. A study of this kind can show that endometriosis and higher immune cell counts go together. The design cannot prove the cells caused the infertility. The authors call the link to infertility untested. They call their own explanation speculation, based on animal and IUD studies. Every woman had normal cycles and surgery mid-cycle, so results may not carry over to other timing or other groups of women.

RRM Context

This early finding raised the idea that endometriosis might hurt fertility beyond blocked tubes. RRM clinicians weigh evidence like this when working up endometriosis. The finding points to a possible factor that surgery can find, but scans and blood tests cannot. The pattern is also one reason RRM Academy calls many cases of unexplained infertility undiagnosed instead. The cause may have been there all along. Finding it just took direct surgical evaluation.

Abstract not indexed.

Topics

By this author

Related research

Genetics and Immunology › Reproductive Immunology › Inflammation and Reproduction
PMID 7195828 7195828 DOI 10.1016/s0015-0282(16)45567-6 10.1016/s0015-0282(16)45567-6 Haney et al. 1981, Haney 1981

Cite this article

Haney, A. F., Muscato, J. J., & Weinberg, J. B. (1981). Peritoneal fluid cell populations in infertility patients. Fertility and Sterility, 35(6), 696-698. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0015-0282(16)45567-6