FALLOPOSCOPIC CANNULATION, OVIDUCTAL APPEARANCES AND PREDICTION OF TREATMENT INDEPENDENT INTRAUTERINE PREGNANCY

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an associa tion between the appearance of the oviductal lumen during falloposcopi c examination, and the occurrence of intrauterine pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy independent of treatment, Sixty-two consecutive women were recruited who were examined falloposcopically in-office, and who did n ot require subsequent surgical intervention to restore tubal patency. There was a heterogeneous group of presentations including unilateral and bilateral proximal tubal occlusion, unexplained infertility and th e presence of minor laparoscopic abnormalities which might suggest the possibility of occult endotubal pathology. A stepwise Cox's model of life table analysis selected the number of falloposcopically normal an d patent Fallopian tubes as the only variable significantly associated with intrauterine pregnancy, when all clinical, demographic and inves tigative data were analysed, The presence of minor distal intra-tubal adhesions was selected on stepwise analysis as the only variable signi ficantly associated with the occurrence of ectopic pregnancy, A number of falloposcopic abnormalities were significantly associated with out come in the clinical sub-group who presented with bilateral proximal t ubal occlusion, These data suggest that falloposcopy is a valuable cli nical tool which provides useful prognostic data for the prediction of intrauterine pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy.