If you are considering having an hysteroscopy or have a hysteroscopy operation planned, it is important to know all you can about it. This includes:

• why you need this operation
• what it will be like
• how it will affect you
• what risks are involved
• any alternatives.

The information here is a guide to common medical practice. Each hospital and doctor will have slightly different ways of doing things when performing a hysteroscopy, so you should follow their guidance where it is different from the information given here. Because all patients, conditions and treatments vary it cannot cover everything. Use this information when making your treatment choices with your doctors. You should mention any worries you have. Remember that you can ask for more information at any time.

Submit a request for further information, a quotation or indicative cost. Your enquiry will be forwarded to up to 3 private healthcare providers. They will respond directly with further information.

Get a quote for a private Uterus examination by camera >

What is the problem?

You may be having problems with your periods. Your periods may be heavy. You may be bleeding between your periods. You may be bleeding after the menopause. A scan may have shown some thickening of your endometrium, which is the lining of your uterus. We may use this examination to find out why you are having difficulties in becoming pregnant or having repeated miscarriages. For any of these problems an examination of your endometrium will be helpful. Ask your doctor why you are having this procedure.

What is the endometrium?

The lining of the uterus is called the endometrium. The uterus is commonly called the womb. The uterus lies in the centre of the pelvis. It is about the size of a clenched fist. The lowest part of the uterus, jutting into the vagina, is called the neck of the womb or cervix. Cervical smear tests are scrapings taken from the surface of the cervix. The rest of the uterus is called the body of the uterus. The body of the uterus thins out at the top to form two hollow tubes called the Fallopian tubes. The Fallopian tube on each side ends near the left or right ovary.

The endometrium changes with your monthly menstrual cycle. Chemicals from your ovaries, called hormones, control your menstrual cycle. Every month, provided you have not become pregnant, the endometrium is shed as a period.

Towards the middle of the menstrual cycle an egg is released from one of the ovaries. Hormones from the ovaries will have made the endometrium thicken, ready for a fertilised egg. If the egg is fertilised, it will stick firmly to the endometrium and develop into a baby in the uterus.

If the egg is not fertilised, the hormones change. This change makes the endometrium come away with some bleeding; this is a period. After a few days a new layer of thin endometrium forms. This starts to thicken, ready for the next possible fertilised egg.

After the menopause, the ovaries stop producing the hormones that control the menstrual cycle. The endometrium remains thin and the periods stop.

What has gone wrong?

Miscarriages and infertility can be caused when a fertilised egg cannot attach itself to the endometrium. Endometrial problems can prevent the egg from lodging in the uterus, where it would normally develop.

Before the menopause, heavy and painful periods often happen with a perfectly normal endometrium. We can treat this bleeding with an operation to destroy the endometrium without removing the uterus. Rarely, there is a disease of the endometrium, which needs a different treatment. We do a hysteroscopy before most gynaecology operations, to check that the endometrium is normal.

After the menopause, any bleeding or thickening of the endometrium is investigated, in case the endometrium has become malignant. Sometimes the ovaries start producing hormones for one or two cycles after the menopause. This can produce some period like bleeding.

The aims

The aim of the procedure is to check the state of your endometrium and to take small samples, called biopsies, for examination under the microscope.

We use a special narrow telescope called a hysteroscope to do the hysteroscopy. The hysteroscope is passed through the vagina and cervix, into the body of the uterus. There are no incisions. A biopsy will be taken from the endometrium if any abnormality is found. The procedure is often done in a hysteroscopy outpatient clinic; there is a separate leaflet covering hysteroscopy - outpatient. It is also possible to do a biopsy with you awake, but on occasions going to sleep with a general anaesthetic is used instead. This is usually carried out as a day case, although there is a chance you will need to stay in overnight, especially if any treatment is carried out at the same time.

The benefits

The examination and tissue sampling should show us the exact condition of the endometrium. We can then plan the most appropriate and effective treatment.

Are there any alternatives?

There are several other tests that can be used to give us information about the state of the endometrium. These include:

• Blood tests.
• Smear tests from the cervix.
• X-rays.
• A variety of scans, such as ultrasound, CT and MRI scans.

However, a hysteroscopy will give a direct view of the endometrium and the ability to take biopsies for further examination.

What if you do nothing?

If you do nothing we will probably not know the cause of your problems. The correct treatment may not be possible. Serious disease may be missed and any problems are likely to continue. You may miss out on important treatment.

Submit a request for further information, a quotation or indicative cost. Your enquiry will be forwarded to up to 3 private healthcare providers. They will respond directly with further information.

Get a quote for a private Uterus examination by camera >