Historical predictability of abnormal laparoscopic findings in the infertile woman.

The conventional approach to laparoscopy in an infertility workup has been to perform the procedure in the latter stages. Alternative ways have been suggested. Our investigation attempted to assess the suitabilities of an alternative approach. The laparoscopic findings in a group of 231 patients examined as part of an infertility workup have been analyzed. The predictability of abnormal findings has been demonstrated with accuracy in those patients with certain symptomatic or historical associations. The ability to predict abnormalities would suggest that laparoscopy should be performed early in the workup in this group. This holds true regardless of the discovery of any other abnormality which might be thought to be related to the patient's infertility.