Autofluorescent laparoscopy diagnosis of endometriosis is a new way of seeing where endometriosis is during the laparoscopy. Laparoscopy is the best procedure to diagnose and remove endometriosis. During laparoscopy,
it is possible to see where the lesions are, however, under normal white light, tiny or hidden growths (implants) may remain hidden from the surgeons’s view.
Enter autofluorescent laparoscopy diagnosis of endometriosis — instead of white light only, two filters, the blue and the green one, are used. The first video shows the principle:
The Autofluorescent Mechanism
In normal laparoscopy, white light is reflected from the surface of the tissue. If a special narrow short-wave
filter is added, the illumination light is reflected as blue (the so-called observation light.) However, the lesions are also blue, so another filter is added, a green one — the observation filter. This maximizes the difference between the normal and endometrial tissues.
Autofluorescent Laparoscopy Diagnosis
of Endometriosis, Part Two
In this video we see a sample tissue with endometriosis. If only white light were present, extremely subtle endometriosis is seen. When the illumination filter only is used, there is loss of visuallisation. With observation filter alone, no change from white light is seen. When both filters are used at the same time, the lesions can be clearly seen.
Autofluorescent Laparoscopy Diagnosis of Endometriosis Video
The next two videos show how easy it is to see where endometriosis really is.
Hyperfluorescent Endometriosis
The author of the videos on this page is Stephen F. Palter, MD, the medical and scientific director of Gold Coast IVF.
For other videos on this site, see our main page on hysterectomy video.