TRANSVAGINAL SONOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF PREMALIGNANT AND MALIGNANT CHANGES IN THE ENDOMETRIUM IN POSTMENOPAUSAL BLEEDING

Purpose. We explored the value of transvaginal sonography as a screeni ng technique for endometrial abnormalities. Methods. Transvaginal sono graphy was used to evaluate the likelihood that an endometrial abnorma lity was present in a group of 103 women with postmenopausal bleeding. Results. Sonographic findings showed a mean endometrial thickness of 6.2 mm in patients with endometrial atrophy, 12.4 mm in patients with simple hyperplasia, 13.4 mm in patients with complex hyperplasia, and 14.1 mm in patients with endometrial carcinoma. There was no statistic ally significant difference in endometrial thickness measurements betw een the hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma groups. However, the dif ference between these groups and the endometrial atrophy group was sta tistically significant. The mean age was significantly higher for pati ents with endometrial carcinoma (62 years) than for the patients in th e other groups. Conclusions. Our study shows that transvaginal sonogra phy is a useful method of screening for endometria[abnormalities. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.