Objective: To analyse the diagnostic value of laparoscopy in patients with tubal infertility.
Methods: The morphological appearance of fallopian tubes and surrounding tissues of 1120 cases with proven tubal infertility were observed under laparoscopy. Hydrotubation was performed at the same time in each case.
Results: Tubal infertility diagnosed by laparoscopy accounted for 32.8% of infertile patients. Among them, pelvic tuberculosis occupied 63.6%, while nonspecific inflammatory disease (NSID) 36.4%. 44.8% of the tuberculosis and 62.2% of NSID group had negative findings during pelvic examination. Four types of tuberculosis lesions were demonstrated: miliary ascites (9.4%), adherent mass (35.8%), adhesion and calcification (43.1%), nodular sclerosis (11.7%). In the NSID group, simple tubal obstruction accounted for 29.9%, the remaining were mild adhesion or hydrosalphinx. Complete tubal occlusion occupied 81.2% in tuberculosis group and 70.7% in NSID cases. In the tuberculosis group the positive rate of pelvic lesion biopsy and endometrial biopsy was only 59.1% and 20.5% respectively.
Conclusion: Laparoscopy examination is a valuable procedure for the etiological diagnosis of tubal infertility.