Gravlee jet irrigator. Efficacy in diagnosis of endometrial neoplasia

L. B. Twiggs, P. J. DiSaia, C. P. Morrow, D. E. Townsend and C. E. Schwinn

The Gravlee jet irrigator was used in 556 women with abnormal uterine bleeding. The irrigator failed to demonstrated endometrial adenocarcinoma in 14 of 25 patients. In ten of these 14, the specimens were found to be unsatisfactory. Twenty-six percent (16 of 61) of those patients with unsatisfactory specimens had a proliferative endometrial lesion. The false-negative rate in diagnosing endometrial cancer with an adequate specimen was 27% (4 of 15). Forty-eight of 61 cases of hyperplastic endometrial lesions were not diagnosed by means of jet irrigation. The irrigation failed to detect premalignant endometrial lesions and was not sufficiently reliable to exclude endometrial carcinoma when a satisfactory negative specimen was obtained.