[The value of hysteroscopy as a gynecological diagnostic procedure]

There is a worldwide interest in the use of hysteroscopy in the practice of gynaecology. For this reason a prospective study has been undertaken on 168 randomly selected patients admitted to the gynaecological wards to evaluate its usefulness. Pre- and postmenopausal abnormal uterine bleeding were the main indications for evaluating these patients. The picture obtained by hysteroscopic examination was carefully correlated with the histopathological diagnosis in each case. In only 7% of cases the hysteroscopic diagnosis differed from that obtained by histological examination of the endometrium. In 1,8% of cases a hysteroscopic investigation could not be done because of active intra-uterine bleeding. Hysteroscopy could be performed as successfully under paracervical block as under general anaesthesia. The conclusion reached was that hysteroscopy is a most important adjunct in the investigational armamentarium of a gynaecologist.