The learning curve of selective salpingography and tubal catheterization.

Objective: To determine the effect of increasing experience in fluoroscopically guided selective salpingography and tubal catheterization on radiation doses and screening times, thus establishing a learning curve for the procedure.

Design: Retrospective case note analysis.

Setting: IVF center of an academic teaching hospital.

Patients: Three hundred sixty-six patients with infertility seen over 3.5 years.

Intervention(s): Fluoroscopically guided selective salpingography and tubal catheterization.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Reductions in radiation doses and screening times for different categories of selective salpingography and tubal catheterization, expressed as percentage reductions during the study period and reductions per 10 procedures.

Result(s): During the study period, The median dose of radiation decreased by 62.6%-71.9%, and the median screening time declined by 61.5%-78.5%. Reductions per 10 procedures were 2.5%-4.2% and 2.7%-5%, respectively.

Conclusion(s): Significant reductions in radiation doses and screening times start early in a clinical team's practice of selective salpingography and tubal catheterization and continue even as trainees are added to the pool of operators.