Utero‐Tubal Sperm Transport and Its Impairment in Endometriosis and Adenomyosis

Stefan Kissler, Stephan Zangos, Inka Wiegratz, Joachim Kohl, Achim Rody, Regine Gaetje, R. Gaetje, Natascha Doebert, Ludwig Wildt, L. Wildt, Georg Kunz, Gerhard Leyendecker, G. Leyendecker, Manfred Kaufmann
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2007 · vol. 1101(1) , pp. 38–48 · doi:10.1196/annals.1389.036 · PMID:17344532 · W2091245029
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

Endometriosis and adenomyosis impair uterine sperm transport, with diffuse adenomyosis causing dysperistalsis and significantly reduced pregnancy rates.

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Abstract

The uterus is composed of different smooth muscle layers that serve various functions. First, menstrual debris is expulsed at the time of the menses. Second, sperm is transported in the preovulatory phase to maximize fertility, and third, the human embryo is placed in an adequate setting during implantation. Endometriosis is a gynecologic disorder leading to severe pain symptoms such as severe pain during menstruation (dysmenorrhea), chronic pelvic pain, pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia), and abnormal uterine bleeding. Besides, endometriosis is often associated with female infertility and exhibits a massive impairment in the physiology of uterine contractility that can be documented by the in vivo examination method of hysterosalpingoscintigraphy (HSSG). In addition, endometriosis is associated in 80-90% of subjects with adenomyosis and our data clearly indicate that sperm transport is disturbed by hyperperistalsis when at least one focus of adenomyosis can be detected via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and turns into dysperistalsis (a complete failure in sperm transport capacity) when diffuse adenomyosis affecting all myometrial uterine muscle layers is detected. Hence, dysperistalsis is significantly associated with reduced spontaneous pregnancy rates. We therefore recommend MRI and HSSG in every sterility workup.

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Condition tags

endometriosisadenomyosischronic_pelvic_paindysmenorrheadyspareuniainfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Fallopian Tubes Myometrium Spermatozoa Sperm Transport Uterus Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Fallopian Tubes Fallopian Tubes Female Humans Male Myometrium Myometrium Spermatozoa Spermatozoa Sperm Transport Uterus

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Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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Cited by (50)

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