[Salpingoscopy--an aid in the diagnosis of sterility]

The condition of the fallopian tubes was assessed in 100 fertile women on whom a caesarean section had been performed and in 100 infertile women who had undergone a diagnostic laparascopy. The 100 infertile women revealed both peritubal adhesions (20% vs 2%) and fimbrial agglutinations (4% vs 0%) in a significantly higher number of cases. When the diagnostic procedure was extended to include the salpingoscopy of 20 women with periampullary and peritubal adhesions, 10% of them were found to be suffering from damage of the endosalphinx. In patients with fimbrial agglutination, the same diagnostic procedure revealed mucosal damage in 40% of the cases. The rate of damage to the endosalpinx may help to explain the relatively high rate of ectopic pregnancies (15%) following microsurgical fimbrioplasty. Thus, in cases where the patient is suffering from peritubal adhesions and fimbrial agglutinations, salpinogoscopy can be of use in deciding whether microsurgery is indicated. In those cases, where there is evidence of damage to the endosalpinx, in-vitro fertilization with intrauterine embryo transfer must be considered as the preferential method.