RADIONUCLIDE HYSTEROSALPINGOGRAPHY DOES NOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN FERTILE WOMEN, BEFORE TUBAL-STERILIZATION, AND INFERTILE WOMEN

The female genital tract is capable of active transport that can be de monstrated by serial scintigraphic imaging over time (radionuclide hys terosalpingography; RN-HSG). RN-HSG has been suggested to offer a more functional approach to tubal infertility diagnosis than conventional patency tests. However, before RN-HSG can be recommended as a routine method, its reliability in showing active transport in fertile women m ust be demonstrated. Therefore we compared RN-HSG in two groups: 38 fe rtile women before tubal sterilization and 38 women undergoing inferti lity work-up. Tubal transport demonstrated by RN-HSG was comparably di stributed in both groups and classified as bilateral (17 versus 19), u nilateral (12 versus 7) or no transport (6 versus 9). In each group th ree RN-HSG images were not interpretable. There was no association bet ween patency test results and RN-HSG in the two groups. Our data sugge st that RN-HSG in its present form does not seem to be a reliable meth od for infertility work-up. Because RN-HSG and patency tests most prob ably measure different properties of the genital tract, the phenomenon of active particle transportation should be studied further to enable the development of a reliable tool for the investigation of tubal fun ction.