Hysterosalpingo-radionuclide scintigraphy (HERS)

Abstract

A radionuclide procedure, hysterosalpingo-radionuclide scintigraphy (HERS), was designed to evaluate the migration of a particulate radioactive tracer from the vagina to the peritoneal cavity and ovaries as well as to image and functionally outline the patency of the pathways between these two extremes of the female reproductive system. Technetium-99m human albumin microspheres (99mTc-HAM) were deposited in the posterior fornices of patients who were divided into two specific groups. Group I consisted of patients who were to undergo different elective gynecologic operations, in which besides obtaining sequential images, radioactivity levels were measured in the removed organs and tissues. Group II consisted of patients referred by the Infertility Clinic for evaluation of their reproductive system pathways patency. In this latter group, HERS was compared with contrast hysterosalpingography (HSG) and peritoneoscopy (PCP). The results obtained from measurements of radioactivity levels on the removed surgical specimens and comparison with other conventional gynecologic diagnostic procedures provide accurate evidence of the migration of 99mTc-HAM from the vagina, through the uterus and tubes, to the peritoneal cavity and ovaries, and show that HERS is a simple noninvasive method for functionally imaging and assessing the patency of the female reproductive system pathways.