Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography for prediction of pre-cancerous endometrial lesions.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether measurements of blood flow in endometrial and uterine vessels by transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography was valuable in the diagnosis of a neoplastic endometrial pathology (hyperplasia and carcinoma) in women with abnormal bleeding.


METHODS
This is a prospective study and included 105 post-menopausal women and 33 pre-menopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding. All subjects underwent transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography. We investigated whether obtained results were correlated with histopathological findings.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the mean+/-S.D. RI of the left and the right uterine arteries, intramyometrial arteries and endometrial arteries between patients with neoplastic and non-neoplastic endometrium on histopathological examination. Doppler's velocity waveforms of small endometrial blood vessels could be detected in 9% of the women with non-neoplastic endometrium and in 42% of the women with neoplastic endometrium (P<0.05). The mean+/-S.D. of the endometrial thickness was significantly higher in the women with neoplastic endometrium than that of the women with non-neoplastic endometrium (16.6+/-6.1 mm vs. 9.5+/-4.7 mm, P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Doppler's velocity waveforms of uterine vessels coupled with transvaginal ultrasonography are not valuable enough to replace histopathological examination in the diagnosis of a neoplastic endometrial pathology. However, it may be helpful in cases in which invasive techniques are difficult to perform and in the differentiation of a certain group of patients at little risk of endometrial carcinoma.
Arslan
M
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mersin University School of Medicine, Mersin, Turkey. muratarslanmd@hotmail.com
Erdem
A
A
Erdem
M
M
Yazici
G
G
Himmetoglu
O
O
Gursoy
R
R
D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004714:Endometrial Hyperplasia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D019160:Endosonography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017697:Premenopause; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology