[Evaluation of the endometrium by vaginal ultrasonography]

A group of 131 women aged between 35 and 70 years old were examined using endo-vaginal ultrasonography. Of the patients examined, 45 had been in menopause for at least 2 years and 86 were pre-menopause. 48.9% of the post-menopause patients reported loss of blood and 69.8% of pre-menopause patients reported alterations in the menstrual cycle. Ultrasonography was performed using an endo-vaginal 5 MHz (Ansaldo 600) probe with the patient in a dorsosacral position. During the course of ultrasonography the appearance of the endometrium, in particular its thickness, dyshomogeneity and, in pre-menopause women, its correspondence with the stage of the ovarian cycle, were examined. Taking these parameters into account, the type of endometrial echo patterns were classified, separating the cases into pre- and post-menopause groups. Of the women in menopause, 22 underwent curettage due to symptoms, independently of endometrial thickness which was over 4 mm in 50% of cases, 3 women underwent curettage following ultrasonographic indications, whereas the remaining 20 underwent hysterectomy due to other pathologies. Of the pre-menopausal group, 10 underwent curettage following ultrasonographic indications and 42 due to symptoms; the remaining patients underwent hysterectomy due to pathologies not related to the endometrium. A clearly defined role of endovaginal ultrasonography in the diagnosis of endometrial pathologies emerges if ultrasonographic findings are correlated with histological ones. In the group of post-menopausal women (45), all those cases which were histologically classified as endometrial carcinoma (4) were associated with an endometrial thickness over or equal to 4 mm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)