Table 5.
Systematic review of previous studies
| Type of study | Number of patients/number of Fallopian tubes studied | Method used at hysteroscopy | Sensitivity, n (%) | Specificity, n (%) | Limitations of study | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Habibaj et al., 2012[24] | Prospective | 56 patients | Diagnostic hysteroscopy followed by transvaginal ultrasound to see fluid in pouch of doughlas | 94.7 | 94.4 | Lack of anatomical specificity, generally it is not possible to determine whether unilateral tubal obstruction is present |
| Torok and Major, 2012[27] | Prospective | 35 women/70 fallopian tubes | Selective pertubation with office hysteroscopy with methylene blue dye | 87.5 | 100 | |
| Parry et al., 2017[25] | Prospective | 435 patients, 89 had abdominal surgery as well | Through air infusion into saline during flexible office hysteroscopy (parryscope technique) | 98.3-100 | 83.7 | |
| Carta et al., 2018[28] | Prospective | 47 women/92 fallopian tubes | Office hysteroscopy-guided selective chromopertubation | 85.7 | 87.8 | 19 patients out of 47 did not undergo confirmatory laparoscopy |
| Promberger et al., 2018[29] | Retrospective | 511 women/998 fallopian tubes | Visualizable flow effect in Fallopian tube ostia on hysteroscopy | 86.4 | 77.6 | Cold saline may induce tubal spasmIncomplete description of tubal ostia in 49% cases leading to high dropout rateSurgeon bias-many of cases done for tubal pathologies and hysteroscopy results were interpreted after laparoscopy |
| Yucel et al., 2018[31] | Prospective | 64 women/128 fallopian tubes | Hysteroscopic chromopertubation with methylene blue dye | 85.85 | 59.09 | Failure to observe flow of methylene blue in the distal segment of tube over the adjacent ovarySmall number of patients |
| Ott et al., 2020[30] | Prospective | 72 women/144 fallopian tubes | Visualizable flow at hysteroscopy | 85.3 | 66.1 | Comparing flow effect’s accuracy between proximal and distal tubal occlusions would lead to overinterpretation of results, due to low number of distal occlusions. Distension pressure was not measured during hysteroscopy, may affect predictive value of hazy hysteroscopic picture and other findings, nor chromopertubation pressure standardized |