Predictors of Pain Associated With Hysterosalpingography (HSG): A Prospective Cohort

Alexander Quaas, Richard C. Karl, Blake Porter, Heather R. Burks, LaTasha B. Craig
2014 · W2187692919
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 1 in-corpus citation Metadata only
View on OpenAlex
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Hysterosalpingography is painful for most women, with dysmenorrhea history and tubal obstruction predicting increased pain, while NSAIDs did not significantly reduce pain scores.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Predictive factors of pain were evaluated prospectively in a cohort of 157 women undergoing hysterosalpingography (HSG). 94% of women experienced pain associated with the procedure. A history of dysmenorrhea or tubal obstruction at time of procedure was a significant predictor of increased pain associated with HSG. Pre-procedure treatment with Non-Steroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) was not associated with changes in pain scores. Objective: To identify predictive factors of pain associated with Hysterosalpingography (HSG). Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Academic medical center. Patients: 157 consecutive women undergoing HSG as part of infertility evaluation. Interventions: Completion of standardized pre- and post-procedure questionnaires, including Post-Procedure Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Present Pain Intensity (PPI) and Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence and nature of HSG-associated pain, VAS, PPI and SF-MPQ results, predictors of HSG-associated pain. Results: Of the 157 women undergoing HSG, 94% of patients experienced pain during the procedure. Not surprisingly, the most common description of the nature of pain was “cramping” (86.5%). The severity of reported preprocedure dysmenorrhea was statistically significantly associated with the occurrence of HSG-associated pain (r=0.315, p<0.01). Additionally, women with tubal obstruction experienced a significant increase in HSG-associated pain (p=0.011). Patients using pre-procedure non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, 85.4% of women) experienced no significant decreases in VAS pain scores (73.7 versus 82.0, p=0.40). Conclusion: The majority of women experience pain during HSG. A history of dysmenorrhea and a finding of tubal obstruction were statistically significant predictors of HSG-associated pain.Pre-procedure treatment with NSAIDs reduced pain scores, however this was not statistically significant.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Outcome instruments

VAS-pain

Condition tags

dysmenorrheainfertility

Citation neighborhood (sparse)

Too few in-corpus citations on either side for a chart; here are the lists.

Cites (3)

Cited by (1)

References (15)

Cited by (1)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK