Benefits and Risks - Hysterosalpingography

Benefits

• Hysterosalpingography is a minimally invasive procedure with rare complications.
• Hysterosalpingography is a relatively short procedure that can provide valuable information on a variety of abnormalities that cause infertility or problems carrying a fetus to term.
• Hysterosalpingography can occasionally open fallopian tubes that are blocked allowing the patient to become pregnant afterwards.
• No radiation remains in a patient's body after an x-ray examination.
• X-rays usually have no side effects in the typical diagnostic range for this exam.

Risks

• There is always a slight chance of cancer from excessive exposure to radiation but the benefit of an accurate diagnosis far outweighs the risk.
• The effective radiation dose for this procedure varies.
• If a patient has chronic inflammatory condition, pelvic infection or untreated sexually transmitted disease, the exam can worsen the infection.