[Vaginal sonography: pilot study for using in ovarian screening procedures]

From May to September 1987, 221 women of over 45 years of age were examined by transvaginal ultrasound at the Department of Gynaecology (Gynaecological Hospital) of the University of Marburg. Transvaginal ultrasound proved to be significantly superior to clinical examination, since palpation had resulted in "NAD" findings in all cases. The average diameter and the volume of postmenopausal ovaries, determined by transabdominal sonographic studies, were easily confirmed by the new method. In 6% of the 221 patients, pathological findings of the ovaries were clinically "NAD". Since the usefulness of transabdominal ultrasound in screening for ovarian cancer has already been confirmed by other authors, this pilot study aims at providing an opportunity to test transvaginal ultrasound also in a large ovarian cancer screening programme by furnishing the essential basic research data. Age-adapted average ovarian sizes and significant differences in size between the right and the left ovary were used to differentiate between normal and pathological findings as well as changes in the ovarian parenchymal patterns.