Background: To establish whether the ultrasound findings of minimal endometriosis are confirmed at laparoscopy and that a correlation can be established as to the anatomical sites in this mild form of the disease. Aims: Patients with pain and suspicion of endometriosis had an ultrasound scan by a sonologist with expertise in endometriosis as part of their pre-operative workup. Measurements and Main results: The clinical histories of 53 patients who had laparoscopy to investigate pelvic pain were reviewed. Ultrasounds were performed between 2012 and 2015 by a single sonologist with expertise in endometriosis assessments. The ultrasound findings were divided into subgroups as follows -presence of uterosacral ligament thickness, thickened pericolic fat, ovarian mobility and focal tenderness. These were compared with operative findings of those patients with superficial endometriosis. Evidence Level 3 -observational studies with controls and health services research that includes adjustment for likely confounding factors.Results: Seventy-nine percent (42/53) of the patients had laparoscopic findings consistent with their ultrasound findings (95% CI 68-90%, P < 0.0001). Of the subgroups that we reviewed, uterosacral thickening (P < 0.05) and thickened pericolic fat (P < 0.05) were the most associated with superficial endometriosis at the time of laparoscopy.
Conclusion: Markers on ultrasound that reliably demonstrated inflammation(thickened uterosacral ligaments and thickened pericolic fat) were shown to be significantly associated with the disease.
K E Y W O R D Ssuperficial endometriosis, ultrasound scan, endometriosis symptoms
Background:Adenomyosis is histologically defined by the presence of endometrial glands and stroma in the myometrium. To date, there are no standardised ultrasound findings that reliably predict histological adenomyosis.Aims: This study aimed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of a novel sonographic measurement for adenomyosis, the myometrial-cervical ratio (MCR), when compared with histopathological diagnosis.
Materials and Methods:A single-centre retrospective study was performed. The MCR was calculated from the pre-operative ultrasound, and histopathology reviewed for each case. Accuracy data were analysed in the form of 2 × 2 tables. The discriminative value of the MCR was summarised with a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. Sub-analysis examined the impact of fibroids, hormonal suppression, menopausal status, parity and indication for surgery.Results: Between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018, 982 patients underwent hysterectomy for benign non-obstetric indication and adequate pre-operative ultrasound was available for 260. The MCR demonstrated limited diagnostic ability for adenomyosis (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) 0.58, 95% CI 0.51-0.65). However, when applied to cases with no uterine fibroid included in the MCR calculation (n = 133) there was a strong association between MCR and diagnosis of adenomyosis (odds ratio: 5.79, 95% CI: 2.15, 15.62, P = 0.001) with AUROC for this model 0.68 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.77). At an MCR cut-point of 1.74, sensitivity is 67.16% and specificity is 66.15%, with 66.67% of samples correctly classified.
Conclusions:While diagnostic accuracy was suboptimal, the MCR outperforms traditional ultrasound diagnostic features of adenomyosis. The MCR may offer a simple imaging measurement for adenomyosis.
Background
Adenomyosis is a benign disorder defined by ectopic endometrial glands within the uterine myometrium. A study by Mooney et al reported the myometrial‐cervical ratio (MCR), a novel ultrasound measurement that was found to improve the preoperative diagnosis of adenomyosis.
Aims
To validate the association between sonographic MCR and adenomyosis confirmed on histopathology in an independent patient group.
Materials and Methods
Single‐centre retrospective cohort study including women who underwent hysterectomy between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018 for a benign, non‐obstetric indication with an ultrasound at the study centre prior to surgery. Clinical details and histopathology were extracted. Ultrasound images were reviewed by a gynaecology ultrasound subspecialist blinded to histological findings.
Results
Eight hundred eighty‐seven patients underwent hysterectomy in the study period for eligible indications; 317 had an ultrasound at the study centre and were included. There was no statistically significant association between the MCR and adenomyosis on histology when all patients were included; however, increased MCR was associated with adenomyosis when those with fibroids on ultrasound were excluded. The area under the receiver operating characteristic for this model was 0.614 (95% CI: 0.53 to 0.69). The optimal MCR cut‐point in this subgroup was 1.79, which achieved 55.6% sensitivity and 62.8% specificity, with 58.5% correctly classified. There was no significant difference in MCR compared to traditional ultrasound markers of adenomyosis.
Conclusions
In a population undergoing hysterectomy for benign and non‐obstetric indications, the MCR applied to preoperative ultrasound was only weakly associated with a histological diagnosis of adenomyosis.
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