Infertility among Female Renal Transplant Recipients

We studied 122 women with renal allograft transplantation to evaluate their reproductive systems. The patients were recruited from the three main kidney transplant surgery centers in Tehran, from September to October 2005. Fifteen (12%) patients were either in the menopausal stage or had hysterectomies, and the other 33(27%) were unmarried. Of the 76(62%) married women at the reproductive age, 10 (13.1%) had infertility that was defined as the failure of a married woman to conceive after 12 months of frequent intercourse without contraception. Three patients had male factor infertility, three others had ovulatory problems, and four cases were undefined. Only six cases were actively treated by ovulation induction ± an intrauterine inducer (IUI); two patients became pregnant, while the other four refused infertility treatment. The reasons of unwillingness for infertility treatment included old age (40 years) in one patient, positive HBsAg in one, renal retransplantation in one, and previous clomiphene therapy failure in another. We conclude that the prevalence of infertility among female renal transplant recipients is the same as the general population, and the causes are mostly treatable. However, many are less motivated to be treated for this problem.