Primary Resectoscopic Treatment of First-Trimester Miscarriage.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the feasibility and safety of resectoscopic treatment for uterine evacuation of first-trimester miscarriage. METHODS: A single-centre prospective study performed between April 2021 and October 2021 at a university-affiliated tertiary medical centre. Patients diagnosed with early miscarriage of up to 12 weeks from the last menstrual period were eligible for participation. Recruited patients underwent hysteroscopic uterine evacuation under general anaesthesia by a Versapoint 2 bipolar resectoscope 24Fr (Johnson and Johnson, Germany). RESULTS: A total of 15 patients were recruited for the study. The procedural characteristics as well as intra- and postoperative adverse events were recorded. The mean duration of the procedure was 14.3 ± 3.7 minutes. The achievement of complete evacuation was recorded in all cases, and no adverse events occurred during any procedure. Post-procedure follow-up 6 weeks after treatment was conducted by office hysteroscopy in 10 women and by ultrasonography in 4 women. One woman had conceived prior to her scheduled follow-up visit. In total, 2 (13.3%) cases of retained products of conception were diagnosed during office hysteroscopy and they were removed by the "see-and-treat" technique without anaesthesia. The diagnosis was confirmed pathologically. No intrauterine adhesions were detected and none of the women required a second hysteroscopy under anaesthesia due to retained products of conception. CONCLUSIONS: Hysteroscopic evacuation of first-trimester miscarriage by a standard resectoscope is a safe and feasible technique.

A virtual reality system for pain and anxiety management during outpatient hysteroscopy-A randomized control trial.

BACKGROUND: Visual and acoustic virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly explored as a non-pharmacological tool for pain relief in clinical settings. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of VR as a distraction technique in the management of acute pain during operative hysteroscopy in the outpatient setting. METHODS: A prospective, open-label, randomized control trial in a tertiary university-affiliated medical centre between April and August 2020. Overall, 82 women were randomly allocated to undergo operative hysteroscopy either with the use of VR (n = 44, study group) or with standard treatment (control group, n = 38). VR was applied throughout the procedure and no anaesthesia was given. The primary outcome measures included self-reported intraoperative pain. Other objectives included vital parameters as pulse rate (PR) and respiratory rate (RR) before and during the first 3 min of the procedure. Pain and anxiety outcomes were measured as numeric rating scores. RESULTS: The baseline parameters were similar between groups. The mean duration for the procedure was 8.1 ± 3.2 vs. 7.3 ± 6.0 min for the study and the control groups (p = 0.23). There were no statistically significant differences between the reported pain scores during the procedure [median (interquartile range) 5.0 (3.0-7.2) vs. 5.0 (3.0-8.0), respectively; p = 0.67]. While neither intraoperative heart rate nor respiratory rate differed between groups [14.0 (13.0-16.0) vs. 14.0 (11.0-16.5); p = 0.77)], the increase of heart rate was found greater in the VR group [+7.0 (8.5) vs. +1.0 (12.2); p = 0.01]. CONCLUSION: VR was not effective in reducing pain during an outpatient operative hysteroscopy. SIGNIFICANCE: The use of a Virtual reality system was found ineffective in reducing pain during and after an office operative hysteroscopy without anaesthesia, in a thorough examination of both continuous physiological parameters and women's self-reported measures.

Is outpatient hysteroscopy accurate for the diagnosis of endometrial pathology among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women?

OBJECTIVE: To assess the histological and visual accuracy of outpatient hysteroscopy. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of all women referred to a tertiary center outpatient hysteroscopy clinic between March 2011 and October 2016 for the following indications: postmenopausal bleeding, suspected polyp, and/or thick endometrium. Histological accuracy was evaluated by comparing specimens obtained in hysteroscopy with those obtained by hysterectomy, and visual accuracy was evaluated by comparing visual findings with those obtained by biopsies. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and likelihood ratio were calculated to assess visual accuracy. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 54.14 (interquartile range 43.0-64.0). A total of 408 pathological specimens were obtained from outpatient hysteroscopies during the 712 visits recorded in the clinic log. Histological accuracy was evaluated in 15 participants who eventually underwent hysterectomy. Total percent of agreement between hysteroscopy biopsies and final pathology obtained by hysterectomy was 73% (kappa = 0.47). Overall visual accuracy was calculated with a 93.1% sensitivity, 52.1% specificity, 90.4% positive predictive value, and 61.0% negative predictive value. Visual accuracy for benign pathology was generally higher compared with that for pre and malignant lesions. Visual accuracy was satisfactory for the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma with sensitivity and specificity of 71.4% and 98.9%, respectively, but poor for diagnosing hyperplasia with sensitivity and specificity of 25.0% and 96.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Outpatient hysteroscopy is an adequate and reliable tool for the evaluation of benign pathology in the uterine cavity. Visual findings may not suffice, and directed biopsies may be required to improve diagnostic accuracy.