Over the past decades, gynecologists in European countries have almost completely stopped using such manipulations as curettage of the uterine cavity in order to obtain material (scraping of the mucosa) for histological examination or removal of a pathological formation in the cervical or uterine cavity. Rough and rather traumatic manipulation was replaced by a new method - hysteroscopy. What it is?
This is a minimally invasive and more gentle method of endoscopic technique. Inspection of the walls of the uterine cavity is carried out using a hysteroscope - a thin optical device inserted through the cervical canal directly into the uterine cavity. This method enables the specialist to evaluate the condition of the canal, uterine cavity and tubular angles in real time. This method allows a complete diagnosis, and if necessary, surgical treatment of adhesions, endometrial polyps, myomatous nodes and other intrauterine pathologies without additional injuries and incisions.
Endoscopic diagnosis is carried out to identify and study pathological processes in the uterine cavity. In this case, hysteroscopy reveals the presence of adhesions, partitions, fibroids, polyps in the uterine cavity. Indications for its implementation are suspicions of endometriosis, submucosal myomatous node or nodes, synechia (adhesions), perforation of the uterine walls during
diagnostic curettage or abortion,
endometrial or cervical
cancer, endometrial pathology. Diagnosis is also necessary if the doctor has suspicions of various malformations of the uterus, its abnormal development, infertility.
A control study of the state of the uterine cavity is often prescribed after any surgical interventions on the uterus, miscarriage, at the end of a course of hormonal treatment. Thus, diagnostic hysteroscopy helps to find the cause of infertility, menstrual irregularities, miscarriage, dysfunctional uterine bleeding.
Then the question arises: therapeutic hysteroscopy - what is it? This is a manipulation that is performed to correct and treat a revealed pathological deviation. Indications for it are the intrauterine septum, synechia, submucous myoma, polyps, endometrial hyperplasia and other conditions. Surgical intervention is carried out through a hysteroscope, which allows you to enter the necessary tools with which various medical manipulations are carried out. Endoscopic methods can eliminate not only the above pathologies, but also remove the fibroid nodes, ablation and resection of the endometrium. These procedures are known as hysteroresectoscopy, in general the same hysteroscopy. What it is and is there any difference? Hysteroresectoscopy is not a diagnosis, but an operational method for the treatment of uterine diseases. This is one of the most modern and progressive surgical treatment methods, a sparing alternative to traditional abdominal surgery.
The following procedures are known: liquid and gas hysteroscopy. What it is? For a full examination of the uterine cavity, it is expanded. For diagnostic tests, gas hysteroscopy is used. In the absence of bloody secretions, the uterine cavity is dilated using carbon dioxide. For surgical interventions, liquid hysteroscopy is more preferable, which is carried out using low molecular weight and high molecular weight liquids. It provides clear visibility and allows you to control the operation.
Diagnostic hysteroscopy and surgical treatment can be performed according to the doctor’s decision at the same time or as different procedures. Often during the manipulation, an endometrial biopsy is done .
If a woman is prescribed hysteroscopy, she can find out the cost of the procedure directly in the clinic. Typically, such a service in paid medical institutions includes consultations with a doctor and anesthetist, preoperative tests, ECG, anesthesia.
It is important to know that hysteroscopy has contraindications. These include recently transferred processes of genital inflammation, cervical stenosis, severe uterine bleeding, general infectious diseases, especially in the acute stage, severe forms of diseases of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, and liver.