Booking an HSG With Irregular Periods: A Preparation Checklist

If you think you may be pregnant, tell the imaging team before attending. Do not use a negative home test as the only clearance to proceed; confirm the unit’s precautions.¹

An HSG is an X-ray examination of the uterine cavity and fallopian tubes, used to assess abnormalities or blockages. Cambridge University Hospitals specifically asks people with absent or very irregular periods to call so booking options can be discussed.¹

First: get a booking plan for your own cycle

• Tell the unit whether your periods are irregular or absent, and give the last bleeding date if you know it.
• Ask how to arrange the appointment in that situation and what to do if bleeding starts after a date has been booked.
• Record the contact number and the instructions beside the appointment name.

Settle pregnancy precautions before the visit

CUH schedules HSG with cycle timing and pregnancy precautions and asks patients to say if they think they are pregnant. Its leaflet includes a home pregnancy test on the appointment morning. Your unit must clarify its own timing, sexual-intercourse and testing instructions for you.¹

• Ask exactly which precautions apply before your appointment and for how long.
• Ask which pregnancy test to use, when to take it and how to report the result.
• Tell the team if pregnancy is possible, an instruction was missed or a result is uncertain. Ask what happens next rather than relying on the test alone or deciding to cancel yourself.

Share contrast history and discuss comfort

CUH asks patients to report a previous reaction to injected contrast. During HSG, a speculum and small tube are used to introduce contrast into the uterus before X-ray images are taken. Cramping can occur.¹

• Describe any previous contrast reaction and bring information about it if available.
• Tell the team about difficulties with intimate examinations and ask what support is available.
• Ask about appropriate pain relief for your own circumstances before taking or changing a medicine.
• Confirm what support or transport you want afterward and the unit’s advice for that day.

Keep the result discussion on the calendar

CUH sends an HSG report to the referring doctor and says the fertility clinic communicates the results. A portal release and a clinical explanation may happen at different times.¹

• Confirm who will explain your result and when that contact should happen.
• Ask whom to call if the expected appointment or message has not arrived.
• Get the unit’s aftercare instructions and the changes it wants you to report sooner before you leave.

Period, Handled includes a Period Scorecard and visit script. Use them to organize cycle dates and booking questions alongside the imaging team’s instructions. See the periods playbook.