Hysteroscopy (Diagnostic and Operative)

Hysteroscopy is a way of examining and treating the inside of the uterus without a single incision. A thin telescope with a camera, the hysteroscope, is passed through the vagina and cervix into the uterine cavity, which is gently expanded with fluid so the lining can be seen clearly on a screen. Diagnostic hysteroscopy answers questions: why bleeding is abnormal, why embryos are not implanting, or what a scan finding inside the cavity really is. Operative hysteroscopy goes a step further and treats what it finds in the same setting, removing polyps, shaving down fibroids that bulge into the cavity, dividing a uterine septum or releasing scar tissue, all through the natural passage of the cervix. The procedure usually takes between fifteen and sixty minutes under sedation or a short general anaesthetic, is done as a day-case, and recovery is measured in days. Because the cavity is where an embryo must implant, hysteroscopy is frequently part of the fertility work-up before IVF.