[Diagnostic laparoscopy in female sterility]

Over a three-year period (1990-1993), a total of 410 diagnostic laparoscopies are performed. The series includes female patients with a minimum one year longstanding of sterility. Diagnostic laparoscopy is taken to be a routine method of making exact diagnosis in female sterility cases, and as a filtering procedure in forthcoming reconstructive operation or in the event of poor outlooks of eventual conception. The commonest finding is endometriosis (in 58.2 per cent), next ranking adhesions free of endometriosis (31.4 per cent) and bilateral obstruction of the uterine tubes (38.5 per cent). Endometriosis is usually located in the uterine body 27.5 per cent, uterine tubes 26.1 per cent and pelvic peritoneum 14.9 per cent.