FALLOPOSCOPIC COMPARISON OF UNILATERAL AND BILATERAL PROXIMAL TUBAL OCCLUSIVE DISEASE

The purpose of this study was to compare the appearance of the entire length of the oviductal canal in women with unilateral versus bilatera l proximal tubal occlusion. Eleven women had apparent unilateral disea se and 18 had apparent bilateral occlusion. Proximal occlusion was con firmed both by hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy. Falloposcopic ex amination was performed by retrograde visualization using the linear e version catheter, in office. Bilateral apparent proximal occlusion was found to have a significantly higher incidence of actual proximal occ lusion and distal intralumenal abnormalities. However, five proximal s egments and six distal segments were found to be abnormal where the pr e-examination diagnosis was unilateral occlusion. Furthermore, the con tralateral oviductal canal was found to be abnormal in four women with apparent unilateral disease, indicating that apparent unilateral prox imal tubal occlusion is associated with actual pathology. These data d emonstrate the value of intralumenal assessment of apparent proximal o cclusion.