Freeze microscopy of the endometrium in ectopic pregnancy

Abstract

A series of 60 patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy was reviewed in order to assess the diagnostic value of freeze microscopy of endometrial curettings. By this procedure the correct diagnosis has been make in 82 per cent of patients, i.e. it established whether the patient was pregnant and whether the pregnancy was intra- or extrauterine. Eighteen patients had an ectopic pregnancy. 13 of them were detected primarily on microscopy of frozen sections, while the remaining 5 were erroneously classified as non-pregnant. The diagnostic sensitivity of freeze microscopy proved to be equal to microscopy of the subsequent paraffin sections. A diagnostic and therapeutic schedule can be set up for patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy when the histological appearances of the frozen sections and the result of the HCG reaction are known.