Successful delivery with combined hysterolaparoscopic correction of completely bicornuate uterus

  Bicornuate uterus is a common symmetrical uterine malformation, the incidence of which accounts for approximately 13.6% of uterine malformations. It occurs because during embryonic development, two paramedian ducts (also known as Müllerian ducts) fuse and the middle section is not completely absorbed, forming a cervix, two uterine cavities, a bifurcation of the upper part of the uterine cavity and the bottom of the uterus, and a tonoplast at the end of the unabsorbed septum. 40% of bicornuate uteri can cause miscarriage, preterm labor, delivery abnormalities, or infertility. The fundamental treatment is to fuse the two narrow uterine cavities into one normal form. The traditional surgical approach is open hysteroplasty (Strassman metroplasty). With the maturity and common application of combined hysteroscopic and laparoscopic surgery, a total of 10 cases of hysteroscopic complete bicornuate hysteroplasty were performed in our center from October 2006 to October 2011, 3 cases were infertile, 1 case of male infertility, 2 cases were lost to follow-up, and 4 cases were delivered successfully for 5 times, as reported below.  The uterus is the place where the fertilized egg is laid and the fetus grows and develops. Abnormal uterine form and function can lead to infertility, miscarriage, preterm delivery, IUGR or obstructed delivery. Surgical treatment can improve the morphology of the uterus, expand the uterine cavity, reduce intrauterine pressure, improve endometrial blood flow, facilitate fertilization and prevent miscarriage, and improve reproductive prognosis. Restoration of fertility with bicornuate hysteroplasty involves opening the uterine cavity, invading the endometrium, and postoperative scar formation, which may cause adhesions or stenosis of the uterine cavity, instead affecting fertility; therefore, it is important to reduce surgical trauma. The traditional treatment for a completely bicornuate uterus is the Strassman open abdominoplasty, which is more traumatic. In 1996, Pelosi et al. used laparoscopy in combination with negative hysteroplasty to perform bicornuate hysteroplasty, resulting in a successful pregnancy and delivery by cesarean section. In 2007, Zlopasa et al. reported that hysteroscopic septal and bicornuate hysteroplasty significantly improved the reproductive prognosis. Hysteroscopic hysteroplasty has become a reasonable alternative to open surgery because of its minimally invasive and effective nature. In recent years, the introduction of bipolar electrosurgery with saline irrigation has improved the safety of hysteroscopic surgery by avoiding the complications of hyponatremia due to the application of non-electrolyte irrigation solution in monopolar electrosurgery. 21 cases with monopolar, resulting in an operative time of 20.5 min for monopolar and 15.4 min for bipolar, compared with P<0.05< span="">, suggesting that bipolar electrodes are superior to monopolar, but the pregnancy, delivery and spontaneous abortion rates were similar in both groups. 2009 Alborzi et al. first reported laparoscopic bicornuate hysteroplasty with two patients with bicornuate and two uteruses each, both with two <5< span=""> months of recurrent spontaneous abortion, laparoscopic fusion after hysteroscopy and hysterolaparoscopic second exploration 3 months later, resulting in a fused uterus and a good and high pressure tolerant uterine cavity in all 4 cases and minimal adhesions in the abdomen in 2 cases. The new laparoscopic bicornuate hysteroplasty is considered minimally invasive and an acceptable alternative to open orthopedic surgery. This paper reports that laparoscopic combined with hysteroscopic complete bicornuate hysteroplasty is performed by first cutting through the septum from the uterine cavity to the abdominal cavity with the hysteroscope, and then laparoscopically extending the incision to both uterine horns, which is more successful for thicker septum, such as bicornuate septate uterus, than cutting through the uterine cavity directly from the bicornuate bifurcation with the laparoscope, which is the obvious advantage of this procedure.  2, malformed uterus and cervical insufficiency: In 1983, Abramovic pointed out that in malformed uterus, the muscle component of the cervix increases and the connective tissue decreases, so that the cervix is not sufficient to counteract the increased asymmetric pressure of the uterine cavity after pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage and preterm delivery. He performed cervical cerclage at 11-12 weeks of gestation in 15 patients with a history of recurrent miscarriages and preterm deliveries, in whom there was no clinical or radiological evidence of cervical insufficiency, and after the procedure 13 full-term deliveries and 2 preterm deliveries occurred, and all babies survived. In 1990, Golan reported that 30% of patients with congenital uterine anomalies were combined with cervical insufficiency, and the incidence of cervical insufficiency in bicornuate uteri was as high as 38%. In 2011, Yassaee et al. compared 40 pregnant women with uterine anomalies, 26 in the study group had cervical cerclage and 14 in the control group had no cerclage. The results were that 76.2% of bicornuate uteri with previous cervical cerclage delivered at term and 23.8% delivered preterm, while 27.3% of those without cerclage delivered at term and 72.7% delivered preterm, (p<0.05)< span="">. Preterm and full-term births were 50/50 (50% : 50%) for bowed uterine annulment, but the ratio of full-term to preterm births without annulment was 66.6% : 33.3%. Therefore, cervical cerclage for bicornuate uterus is considered to be effective in preventing preterm delivery. In a retrospective and prospective study by Chifan et al [14] in 2012, 361 women with midterm pregnancies who had cervical length measured by transvaginal ultrasound had preterm delivery in all cases where the opening was >62.5px or the length was shortened by <50px< span="">. Of the 49 patients (15.3%) with cervical insufficiency, 8 (2.5%) had a unicornuate uterus, 11 (3.4%) had a bicornuate uterus, and 30 (9.5%) had a septate uterus. Transvaginal ultrasound is considered very useful in the diagnosis of cervical insufficiency. The management of malformed uterine pregnancies must take into account cervical insufficiency by continuous ultrasound assessment of the cervical status at 16-20 W of gestation and prompt cervical cerclage in case of a funnel-shaped cervix or <100px< span="">. In this paper, case 3 had 3 late miscarriages, the third one was diagnosed as cervical insufficiency at 14W gestation, failed transvaginal cervical cerclage, and miscarried at 20 weeks gestation. Laparoscopic cervical cerclage was performed 1 year after the fusion of the bicornuate uterus, and the pregnancy was delivered at 39W+1 by cesarean section after the operation until full term.  Combined hysterolaparoscopic complete bicornuate hysteroplasty is less invasive than open hysteroplasty, and close attention to the endocervical changes during pregnancy and cervical cerclage if necessary can significantly improve the reproductive prognosis and has good prospects for development.