An assessment of the role of operative laparoscopy in tuboplasty.

Eighty-three patients had tuboplasty by means of operative laparoscopic techniques. The procedures performed included salpingolysis, whereby only peritubal adhesions were lysed; ovariolysis, whereby only periovarian adhesions were lysed; salpingoovariolysis, whereby peritubal and periovarian adhesions were lysed; fimbrioplasty, whereby the partially agglutinated fimbrial end was teased open; and salpingoneostomy, whereby the completely blocked fimbrial ends were opened. Patency rates were, respectively, 100%, 100%, 100%, 64%, and 31%; and pregnancy rates were, respectively, 67%, 72%, 50%, 35%, and 10%. The only complication encountered was minimal bleeding in the patients in whom salpingoneostomy was performed. These results suggest that operative laparoscopy may be the method of choice for tubal operations that involve any of the first three categories, whereas the last two categories should be used in open laparotomy techniques.