[Transvaginal echography in patients with postmenopausal metrorrhagia]

Minerva Ginecol. 1995 Sep;47(9):369-72.
[Article in Italian]

Abstract

Forty-one postmenopausal patients with abnormal uterine bleeding were scheduled for endometrial sampling in a week from the measurement of endometrial thickness by transvaginal ultrasonography. If the cut-off limit was 5 mm, the endometrial thickness was correlated with the presence of pathologic endometrium with a sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity of 76%, a positive predictive value of 70% and a negative predictive value of 90.5%. Endometrial hyperplasia and polyp represented the two false negative cases. Waiting for a study on a sufficiently large series, the authors think that also an endometrial thickness of a few millimeters doesn't justify the non-recourse to endometrial biopsy in the presence of repeated haemorrhagic episodes or specific risk factors.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Biopsy
  • Endometrial Hyperplasia / complications
  • Endometrial Hyperplasia / pathology*
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / complications
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Endometrium / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Postmenopause*
  • Ultrasonography
  • Uterine Hemorrhage / diagnostic imaging*
  • Uterine Hemorrhage / etiology
  • Vagina / diagnostic imaging