[Oviductal physiological alterations and endosalpingiosis (author's transl)]

A study was made of the oviducts from 110 patients salpingectomized between 1943 and 1976, after endosalpingiosis had been diagnosed. All of the patients were infertile women in whom histopathology performed after surgery revealed diverticula located mainly in the isthmic and interstitial portions of the oviductal wall. By either continuity or invasion, these configurations spread the endosalpingeal epithelium into the peritoneum and/or the ovary. Endosalpingiosis affects the muscular layer of the oviduct, which becomes thickened and rigid, thus accounting for the severe alterations of tubal physiology. The clinical aspects and microscopy of endosalpingiosis are described, and their differences from those of adnexo-peritoneal endometriosis are discussed.