Perlaparoscopic salpingoscopy in the evaluation of the tubal factor in infertile women

Endoscopic evaluation of tubal mucosa during tubal reconstructive microsurgery has been shown to be an important prognostic factor in predicting the probability of a subsequent intrauterine pregnancy. Recent reports have described the use of this technique during laparoscopy in order to evaluate the tubal factor in infertility. We report our experience with this new diagnostic procedure. We utilized a flexible fiberscope with an outer diameter of 3.8 mm for endotracheal intubation. The fiberscope was passed through the operating channel of the laparoscope in order to evaluate the tubal mucosa in patients with primary and secondary infertility associated with tubes patent at the distal end. We encountered abnormalities of the infundibulum or of the ampullary mucosa in 24% of the tubes considered normal at HSG and in 27% of the tubes judged normal at laparoscopy. On the contrary, 44% of the tubes with abnormalities at HSG and 58% of the tubes with abnormalities at laparoscopy presented normal mucosa at salpingoscopy. Our results, in addition to those published in the literature, demonstrate that salpingoscopy is an important and valuable diagnostic procedure for an accurate evaluation of infertile patients. With this technique it is also possible to select patients with a favorable prognosis for tubal microsurgery.