In 1988 and 1989 176 patients underwent pelviscopy at the Kiel Univers
ity Hospital of Gynaecology for primary or secondary sterility of at l
east 12 months duration. 120 patients (68 %) filled in a questionnaire
on the therapeutic results after 2 to 3 years. Following peripheral s
alpingostomy in 18 patients, an intrauterine pregnancy developed in 22
% of these cases, while an ectopic pregnancy occurred in 11 % of the
cases. After fimbrioplasty in 37 cases, the intrauterine pregnancy rat
e amounted to 43 %, whereas the mte was 50 % following salpingoovariol
ysis. 4 patients with a subserous or intramural myoma, measuring 2.5 t
o 8 cm in diameter, but no other pathological signs of disturbed ferti
lity, became pregnant after enucleation of the myoma. 2 patients deliv
ered at full term, the other two miscarried. 5 out of a total of 10 pa
tients became pregnant after endometriosis foci had been coagulated or
endometriomas enucleated. In these cases, the adnexa did not require
additional surgical treatment. Pelviscopy revealed an untreatable intr
atubal block in 9 cases. 10 patients could not be included in the stud
y, either because of a successful in vitro fertilisation or a pregnanc
y following heterologous insemination or because a hysterectomy or tub
ectomy had been performed in the meantime. In cases, where inspection
under magnification had shown at least one non-pathological adnexa and
tubal patency of at least one of the tubes, 35 % of the patients conc
eived after pelviscopy and chromopertubation within the follow-up peri
od. The therapeutic action of the chromopertubation and the psychologi
cal effect of finding no pathological signs during the genital examina
tion remains speculative. Sterility of at least 12 months duration had
also preceded surgery in these cases. The average period of sterility
had been 3.7 years. The results concerning postoperative pregnancies
are comparable to those obtained in microsurgical procedures by laparo
tomy. Since pelviscopy is less stressful for the patient, one should u
se this procedure rather than the microsurgical one through laparotomy
, for the indications mentioned, if this is surgically feasible.