Background: The aim of this study was to calculate the probability of becoming pregnant after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis, and to evaluate complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Methods: A questionnaire was posted to 160 women with an IPAA and to 160 controls. The probability of becoming pregnant after IPAA was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method.
Results: Of 54 women who had undergone IPAA surgery, 36 (67 per cent) succeeded in becoming pregnant naturally, compared with 49 (82 per cent) of 60 controls. The probability of pregnancy after 2 years of trying was 56 per cent in the IPAA group and 91 per cent in the control group (P < 0.001). Women in the IPAA group needed infertility investigations more often (24 versus 10 per cent; P = 0.044). In all, 39 (72 per cent) women in the IPAA group and 53 (88 per cent) in the control group bore a child. Twenty-one of 39 women in the IPAA group and 13 of 53 in the control group had a caesarean section (P = 0.005). Anal incontinence after delivery occurred more often in the control group.
Conclusion: Women with an IPAA mostly suffer a reduction in the probability of conception rather than complete infertility. Because complications during pregnancy and delivery were rare, caesarean section should be based mainly on obstetric indications.