Study of cervical factor in cases of infertility.

The problem of infertility has been engaging the attention of physicians from ancient times. It was known even then that the male was responsible for sterile marriages in 30-40% of the cases (Israel 1967), which can be assessed by routine semen analysis and by the Sims-Huhner post coital test. In the English translation of Sushruta Samhita the importance of healthy seminal fluid has been stated thus "A man is incapable of begetting children, whose seminal fluid was affected by the aggravated vayu, pittam or kaphan, emits a cadaverous smell or has acquired a clotted or shreddy character or which looks like pus or has become thin or smells lik~ urine or stool requires purification." There are biblical accounts of testing the male for fertility by making him copulate with another woman. The cervical factor is also a contributory cause in 10-25% of the cases. Grant (1958), Noyes (1959), Seguy (1959) and Mazer and Israel (1951), Steinberg (1958) stated it to be a primary cause in one third to one half of the patients.