What does diagnostic hysteroscopy mean today?
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Visual examination of the uterine cavity and contextual operative facilities have provided the gynecologist with the perfect ‘diagnostic’ tool, making it possible to examine the cavity and biopsy suspected areas under direct visualization. RECENT FINDINGS: The approach used to insert the scope, together with the diameter of the hysteroscope and the distention of the uterine cavity, are of extreme importance in reducing patient discomfort to a minimum during an outpatient examination. The vaginoscopic approach (without speculum or tenaculum) has definitively eliminated patient discomfort related to the traditional approach to the uterus. One of the major problems for endoscopists is passing through the internal cervical os; the new generation of hysteroscopes, with an oval profile and a total diameter between 4 and 5 mm, are strictly correlated to the anatomy of the cervical canal. Miniaturized instruments have enabled the physician not only to perform targeted hyster