Publication:

Role of transvaginal sonography and hysteroscopy in abnormal uterine bleeding: does the diagnostic yield increase by combining transvaginal sonography, hysteroscopy and biopsy?

Background Abnormal uterine bleeding is the most common complaint of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. The aim of this study was 1) To evaluate the causes of abnormal uterine bleeding using transvaginal sonography, hysteroscopy and endometrial curettage to achieve the greatest diagnostic accuracy. 2) To determine the sensitivity and specificity of TVS and hysteroscopy in the detection of various uterine pathologies.

Methods This was a descriptive cross sectional study between January 2013 to June2014 in Sri Manakula Vinayagar medical college and hospital. After obtaining ethics committee approval, 100 consecutive patients with abnormal uterine bleeding between the age group of 35 and 55 years, who consented to participate in the study, were subjected to transvaginal sonography followed by diagnostic hysteroscopy combined with a directed biopsy. TVS and hysteroscopy was performed by two different investigators. The endometrial curettings and any intracavitary lesion were subjected to histopathological examination. Results tabulated and analysed using MS EXCEL and cross tabulation using Epi-info. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV for each pathology by TVS and hysteroscopy with HPE as the gold standard was calculated. Also the pathology causing abnormal uterine bleeding was computed by taking into account the endometrial characteristics and the associated lesions diagnosed by TVS, hysteroscopy and histopathological examination report.

Results 61 patients had only single lesions in the form of normal endometrium, atrophic endometrium, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial polyp, malignancy and IU synechiae whereas 39 patients had lesions like intramural fibroids, adenomyosis, submucus myoma and polyps associated with different types of endometrium. The diagnostic accuracy of TVS and hysteroscopy were comparable for normal endometrium whereas hysteroscopy was found to be more accurate for endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia and atrophic endometrium.

Conclusions The combination of transvaginal sonography, hysteroscopy and directed biopsy was found to increase the diagnostic yield in patients with abnormal uterine bleeding. As the diagnostic accuracy increased by combining the three modalities, an effective and appropriate management can be planned.