The Role of Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and Management of Trophoblastic Diseases (TMD) at the University Teaching Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo (UTH-YO) of Ouagadougou

Abstract

Objective: To describe the place of ultrasound in the diagnosis and management of Gestational Trophoblastic Diseases (GTD) at the Ouagadougou UTH-YO, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Materials and Patients: It was a prospective and descriptive study over a 3-year period from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. It took place in the gynecology and obstetrics department of at the University Teaching Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo (UTH-YO) of Ouagadougou. Monitoring was based on clinical examination data, ultrasound and kinetics of β-gestational chorionic hormone (GCH) levels. Results: During the study period, we recorded 34 cases of trophoblastic diseases. The average age of the patients was 35 years with extremes of 22 and 52 years. Physical examination revealed a uterus larger than gestational age in 17 patients (56.67%) of cases. Eight (26.67%) patients were asymptomatic. The initial mean β-GCH was 453,747.8 IU/l with extremes of 5903 IU/l and 1,890,000 IU/l. Ultrasound was used to evoke the diagnosis in 23 patients, that to say 76.67% of the cases. Ultrasound identified 10 complete mole cases, 20 partial mole cases. For the 3 cases of invasive mole, pelvic ultrasound revealed heterogeneous intrauterine multi-vesicular images. In a case of choriocarcinoma, ultrasound found an enlarged uterus with a poorly limited intracavitary heterogeneous fundic image. Conclusion: This short series shows the central role of ultrasound in the diagnosis and follow-up of gestational trophoblastic diseases.