The use of different size-hysteroscope in office hysteroscopy: our experience

To evaluate the successful rate and patient acceptance of different-sized hysteroscope in office hysteroscopy.

We retrospectively evaluated 900 office hysteroscopy performed in ambulatory setting using three different hysteroscopes: 5 mm Hamou II (n = 300), 5 mm Bettocchi (n = 300) and 4 mm Bettocchi (n = 300). Endpoints of our study were the successful rate of hysteroscopy, the eventual side effects/complication and the pain intensity experience from the patients using visual analog scale (VAS).

Use of 4 mm Bettocchi leads to a higher rate of successfully performed hysteroscopy (99%, n = 297) and statistically significant when compared to the 5 mm Hamou (95%, n = 285) and to the 5 mm Bettocchi (96%, n = 288) (4 mm Bettocchi vs. 5 mm Bettocchi p < 0.05; 4 mm Bettocchi vs. 5 mm Hamou II p < 0,001; 5 mm Bettocchi vs. 5 mm Hamou II ns). Moreover, the VAS score was higher using 5 mm Hamou II (5.72 ± 1.99) and statistically significant when compared to the 4 mm Bettocchi (3.06 ± 2.14) and to the 5 mm Bettocchi (4.27 ± 1.88) (A vs. B p < 0.05; A vs. C p < 0.001; B vs. C p < 0.001).

Our result suggests that the hysteroscope size plays a pivotal role in the acceptance and for the success of office hysteroscopy.