Hysteroscopic Appearence of Midsecretory Endometrium in Relation to Pinopodes Expression and the Reproductive Outcome in Infertile Women

ObjectiveTo investigate the relation between hysteroscopic finding and pinopodes expression, meanwhile to explore whether hysteroscopic finding was a predictor of reproductive outcome for infertile women.MethodsA total of 79 infertile patients underwent hysteroscopic assessement of the midsecretory endometrium and hormonal measurement 7-9 d after a spontaneous ovulation assessed with transvaginal ultrasound. Pinopodes expression by scanning electron microscope was examined simultaneously in randomly selected 32 patients. All patients were followed up to determine their reproductive outcomes.ResultsTwenty-six (32.9%) patients were diagnosed as having ‘good’ midsecretory endometrium and 53 (67.1%) as ‘poor’ midsecretory endometrium by hysteroscopy. There were no significant differences of endometrial thickness and pattern in the ‘good’ group compared with the ‘poor’ group. Serum progesterone level in the ‘good’ group was apparently higher than that in the ‘poor’ group (P=0.025), but no correlation was observed between serum oestradiol level and hysteroscopic finding. Significant differences of the development stage and number of pinopodes were observed between the two groups (P<0.05). The pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the ‘good’ group (53.9%) than in the ‘poor’ group (26.4%) (P=0.017).ConclusionThe hysteroscopic appearance of the midsecretory endometrium is associated with serum progesterone level and pinopodes expression, which provides prognostic information with regard to the reproductive outcome of infertile women.