Diagnostic Laparoscopy in Infertile Patients

Kim, Jae Ik; Yang, Jung Hyung; Kim, Byoung Won; Sin, Sung Hee; Kim, Dae Hwa; Kee, kwang Soo; Im, Hun Jung

Abstract

One hundred and forty-nine infertile women underwent hysterosalpingography and di-agnostic laparoscopy as a part of their infertility work up at the Kwangju Christian Hospi-tal. The diagnostic value of hysterosalpingography was compared with diagnostic laparos- copy. It was found that hysterosalpingography is a sensitive means to determine tubal pat- ency. However, diagnostic laparoscopy revealed peritubal adhesion in 25.5% of patients, wh- ereas hysterosalpingography made an accurate diagnosis in only 10.5%. And in 61.7% of the cases, there was complete agreement between hysterosalpingogr- aphy and diagnostic laparoscopy. It is concluded that hysterosalpingography is a simple and non-invasive and useful method of assessing the tubal patency, and should remain an integral part of female infert- ility investigation. Diagnostic laparoscopy is a more useful method to evaluate pelvic patho- logy than hysterosalpingography, and thus should always be performed whenever a periton- eal factor is suspected in female infertility.