The Choice of Distention Medium in Hysteroscopy

Abstract

Physicians have always sought to inspect the cavities of the human body without resorting to surgery. In the ancient world, Greek physicians such as Hippocrates, as well as the Syrian physicians, Soranus and Archigenes, performed examinations using techniques similar to those employed in modern endoscopy. The first physician who actually observed the interior of the uterine cavity was Pantaleoni¹. In 1869, he successfully examined a patient whose bleeding was resistant to therapy; she had a number of endometrial polyps. This historic examination was carried out by introducing a straight metal tube, 12 mm in diameter, into the uterine cavity. Illumination was provided by a candle which reflected its light by a system of mirrors. Sixty years earlier, Bozzini² of Frankfurt had suggested performing this type of examination to diagnose suspected uterine tumours and sterility in infertile women. At that time, however, the Viennese Academy of Medicine disapproved of his inquisitive desire to explore this most intimate region of the human body.