Tubal patency studied by ultrasonography: A pilot study

Abstract

Transvaginal hysterosalpingoultrasonography (HSUG) was performed using a uterine cannula and Ringer's solution (Kabi Baxter) as a contrast agent in 14 women consulting for infertility. The results were compared with those of chromopertubation at laparoscopy/laparotomy. With HSUG, the uterine cavity was always well visualized, though it was more difficult to evaluate tubal status. As compared with those of the other methods, HSUG findings manifested total agreement in 50% of cases, total disagreement in 22%, and partial agreement in the remaining 28%. The method was well tolerated by the women studied, and six out of nine women who had previously undergone hysterosalpingography (HSG) found HSUG to cause less discomfort. Thus, the findings suggest that HSUG might prove useful as a means of ascertaining tubal status at an early stage in infertility evaluations.

Screening Sonohysterography in Infertility

“…We tested this method at the beginning of this study, but we were not satisfied with it because the balloon encroaches on the lower part of the uterine cavity and may mask an intrauterine lesion. Nelaton's catheter is flexible to a great extent without interference with the free movements of the vaginal probe, being superior to some rigid injection devices used by others like uterine cannula with double lumen [13] or Schultze cannula [17]. However, we had 3 cases of excessive leakage due to marked cervical incompetence or cervical tears.…”

“…However, it is an expensive medium not available in our hospital. Other cheaper distention media were used before like Ringer's solution [13] and saline [7,14]. In this study, an excellent view was obtained using saline 0.9%, which is a sterile, available and cheap solution.…”

“…In this group of patients we got normal uterine cavity, right and left tubes in about 90, 83 and 98% of cases, respectively. SHG is considered as a preliminary screening procedure at the early stage in infertility investigations, so that the patient could be rapidly scheduled for treatment or further examination as necessary [13]. Tufekei et al [18] compared SHG to HSG and proposed that it can be used as a screening technique since it has the same accuracy.…”

Comparison of Transvaginal Sonosalpingography to Chromolaparoscopy for Evaluation of Tubal Patency in Infertile Patients

“…Recently, there have been many studies published using transvaginal sonosalpingography for tubal diagnosis that also reiterate the fact that sonographic diagnosis of patent tubes is reliable. (3). The results were compared with chromolaparoscopy As compared with those of the other methods, sonosalpingography findings manifested total agreement in 50% of cases, total disagreement in 22%, and partial agreement in the remaining 28%.…”

Endometrial Thermal Coagulation – Degree of Uterine Fibrosis Predicts Treatment Outcome

“…TVS was performed with a 6.5-MHz vaginal probe (Hitachi EUB-565). SIS [12] was performed with an intrauterine polyethylene catheter, Kremer Delafontaine (Prodimed, Neuilly-en-Thelle, France). The distal end of the catheter is 46 mm long and 2 mm in diameter.…”