[Cervical factor in sterile couples with an ovulatory cycle normospermia and patent tubes]

In 54 sterile married couples with a normal biophasic cycle, passable tubes, and normozoospermia, the properties of the cervical mucus were investigated. The biphasic cycle was determined according to the basal temperature curve, in which the hyperthermal phase lasts 12 days or more, the concentration of pregnanediol in the urine on the 22nd day of the cycle (6.4 mg/24h), estrogen on the 12th day of the cycle (78.4 micrograms/24h), and the LH concentration on the 13th day of the cycle (58.3 U/l). A positive crystallization test was found in 12 out of 54 patients and the postcoital test in 8 out of 54 patients. In 31 patients with the clinical symptoms of colpitis and cervicitis the culture of the cervical secretion showed pathogenic bacteria in 24 patients. Eighteen patients were subjected to conization previously. A positive crystallization test and a normal postcoital test were found only in 14 out of 17 patients following conization but in not single patient with cervicitis. After antibiotic therapy and stimulation with estrogens a restitution of the function of the cervical mucosa was observed in 25 patients, while 12 patients became pregnant. Inflammation proved to impair the normal function of the cervical mucosa, and if lasting long, it can lead to irreversible changes. Also surgery in cervix can result in the destruction and reduction of cervical glands and should therefore be strictly medically indicated and carefully performed, especially in nulligravidae.