In a bid to diagnose a whole magnitude of ailments, the endometrial biopsy has become more popular amongst doctors than ever before. While it’s most certainly not the most pleasant procedure for patients, far from it in fact, the insight that it provides medical practitioners in relation to the uterus is second to none and can provide all of the information for those crucial next steps.
However, this isn’t a form of treatment that can be classed as a one-size-fits-all. On the contrary, there is no default way to perform the endometrial biopsy – there are multiple ways and different doctors tend to be more comfortable with different techniques. Of course, some techniques are favored for medical purposes as well – it’s not all down to the doctor’s personal preferences.
Bearing the above in mind, let’s take a look at the four most common ways to perform this procedure.
Electronic suction
We’ll start with the most efficient ways that this procedure is formed; the electronic suction method. Usually, this will take advantage of aspirator pumps, in a bid to effectively suck the sample out of the body ready to be analyzed.
This is seen as one of the more uncomfortable methods for the patients, but most doctors would agree that it is incredibly efficient and rarely involves the tissue having to be taken again.
Pipette
A method which isn’t quite as uncomfortable, but arguably not quite as efficient at the same time, is one conducted via a pipette.
This method is generally referred to when only a small sample is required, as the pipette somewhat limits what doctors are able to extract from the uterus.
Nevertheless, on the occasions that it is suitable, it’s seen as one of the quicker methods and like we said before, it’s also likely to result in less pain for the patient. In fact, minor cramping is regarded as the only side effect that is incurred courtesy of the pipette endometrial biopsy.
D&C
Abbreviated for dilation and curettage, it would be fair to say that this method is only used in exceptional circumstances. These circumstances relate to when heavy bleeding is discovered and doctors are attempting to find the direct causes of this problem.
The doctor will use a tool going by the name of a curette, before scraping the sample from the uterus and collecting it with a syringe or in some cases, via a suction device.
Due to the nature of the D&C, the patient will have to be given a general or regional anesthesia.
Jet irrigation
If we return to one of the more common ways to perform the endometrial biopsy, the jet irrigation technique most definitely falls into this category.
This is relatively simple and merely involves the doctor “washing” away some tissue which is situated around the uterus. From this point on, they will probably rely on a brush to extract some more of the lining before the washing is finished.
Unsurprisingly, this is less painful than most of the other methods we have discussed.
