The value of frozen section Pipelle endometrial biopsy as an outpatient procedure in the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy

Abstract

This is a prospective study evaluating 28 patients who were suspected to have ectopic pregnancy. Frozen section Pipelle endometrial biopsy was performed as an outpatient procedure to look for the presence of chorionic villi in the specimen. The sensitivity of the frozen section endometrial biopsy in detecting the presence of chorionic villi was 13.3% and the specificity was 100%. The positive predictive value was 100% and the negative predictive value was 50%. We concluded that frozen section endometrial biopsy was not helpful in predicting intrauterine gestational process; therefore, it has a limited application in patients suspected to have ectopic pregnancy.

Outpatient endometrial aspiration: an alternative to methotrexate for pregnancy of unknown location

“…9 Sampling with a standard endometrial biopsy pipelle (commonly used for diagnosis of endometrial hyperplasia or carcinoma) has low sensitivity for the detection of chorionic villi, which ranges from 13e63%, and has not yet been evaluated in conjunction with postbiopsy serum hCG levels. [10][11][12] A minimally invasive approach to aspiration of endometrial tissue in the outpatient office setting for the diagnosis of pregnancy location has also been described with the use of several products, which includes the Karman cannula (WomenCare Global LLC, Chapel Hill, NC) attached to a handheld suction device Figure 1). [13][14][15] The office procedure requires no anesthesia other than an optional paracervical block with local anesthetic and is well tolerated.…”