NEWS POST: Prof Proves 100-Year-Old Medical Test Cures Infertility After Mum Tells Him: 'That's How You Were Born!'

Many more women could conceive naturally following the procedure  Credit:Rex/Shutterstock

When the mother of Professor Ben Mol told him that a 100-year-old medical technique had cured her infertility, leading to his birth, the scientist was naturally curious.

Since 1917 doctors have performed a technique in which they inject a special dye into women’s tubes which can be picked up on X-rays, to help diagnose fertility problems.

But although the procedure is supposed to be entirely diagnostic, over the past century, many women have claimed it actually helped them become pregnant.

Now Professor Mol, of the University of Adelaide, has shown that it is probably true, in a study which could help tens of thousands of women avoid the need for IVF.

In a test of more than 1,000 infertile women Prof Mol showed that flushing the fallopian tubes through with poppy seed oil allowed 40 per cent to become pregnant naturally within six months.

"Our results have been even more exciting than we could have predicted, helping to confirm that an age-old medical technique still has an important place in modern medicine," said Prof Mol.

“Over the past century, pregnancy rates among infertile women reportedly increased after their tubes had been flushed with either water or oil during this X-ray procedure.

"Not only is there a known benefit, but this flushing procedure is also a fraction of the cost of one cycle of IVF. Considering that 40 per cent of women in the oil-based group achieved a successful pregnancy, that's 40 per cent of couples who could avoid having to go through the huge costs and emotions associated with IVF treatment.”

The procedure, known as hysterosalpingography (HSG), is a dye test of the fallopian tubes conducted under X-ray. Since the 1950s both water-based and oil-based solutions have been used.

Ben Mol as a baby (just a few weeks old) with his mother, Annemie Mol-Albers, 1965.  Credit: Ben Mol 

In the 1960s, after being considered infertile for nine years, Professor Mol's mother underwent an HSG.

“My mother went from being infertile for many years to becoming pregnant, and I was born in 1965,” he added.  “I also have a younger brother. So it's entirely possible - in fact, based on our team's research, it's highly likely - that my brother and I are both the result of this technique helping my mother to achieve fertility."

Around 50,000 women undergo IVF treatment in Britain every year, but the new study suggests that around 20,000 could avoid the treatment through an HSG.

In the new experiment, scientists also tested the procedure using a water-based solution and found that 29 per cent of women became pregnant, suggesting that it was still effective, but not as good as oil.

"It was long believed that testing a woman's fallopian tubes could have fertility benefits through 'flushing out' the kind of debris that hinders fertility,” added Prof Mol. “The reality is, we still don't really understand why there is a benefit, only that there is a benefit from this technique, in particular for women who don't present with any other treatable fertility symptoms.

“This is an important outcome for women who would have had no other course of action other than to seek IVF treatment. It offers new hope to infertile couples.”

Dr Channa Jayasena, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology at Imperial College said: "It has long been speculated that flushing the fallopian tubes might clear blockages to the passage of eggs to the womb.

"This exciting and well-designed study strongly suggests that flushing with oil could help some couples with infertility get pregnant naturally.

"Since flushing with dye is already done to check the fallopian tubes of infertile women, I can see this being a relatively straightforward treatment to implement.”

Dr Stuart Lavery of IVF Hammersmith, said that he had noticed that women conceived naturally after HSG.

“We are big fans of HSG and have done them for many years. It gives excellent diagnostic accuracy of pelvic anatomy, uterine cavity and tubal patency and a proportion of women conceive naturally after the HSG.”

Prof Ben Mol who discovered his mother was infertile before undergoing a hysterosalpingography Credit: Robinson Research Institute, University Of Adelaide

The team is hoping to conduct more research into how the procedure works, but say it is already a viable and safe treatment which should be offered immediately to women to help improve their chances of conceiving before IVF.

The research, which also involved 27 medical centres in the Netherlands, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Originally published on THE TELEGRAPH