Objective: To investigate to what extent anatomic structures of the tubal wall can be identified reproducibly and whether altered areas can be detected and delimited by intraluminal ultrasound.
Design: Standardized in vitro experiment with descriptive evaluation of findings, comparative analysis of apparative and morphologic data, and determination of interobserver variability (video documentation, blinded reviewer).
Setting: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Heidelberg, Germany. SPECIMEN(S): Seventy-two human and pig fallopian tubes.
Intervention(s): Catheterization with a 2.9F or 3.2F ultrasound catheter and sonographic depiction of the fallopian tube, with either simultaneous manual and sonographic wall-thickness measurement or coagulation of the tubal wall.
Main outcome measure(s): A correlation coefficient of r = 0.76 for manual and sonographic tubal wall measurements and K = 0.88 (with 95% confidence interval of 0.74-1.0) for interobserver variability in recognizing coagulated areas.
Result(s): Tubal wall anatomy and artificially altered (coagulated) areas were displayed reproducibly with intraluminal ultrasound, thus giving a characteristic, recognizable pattern of the tubal wall.
Conclusion(s): These in vitro experiments provide evidence that intraluminal ultrasound may expand the current diagnostic possibilities in cases of tubal pathology, providing nonsurgical access to the tubal wall.