MYOMA VS CONTRACTION IN PREGNANCY - DIFFERENTIATION WITH COLOR DOPPLER IMAGING

During pregnancy, leiomyomas may cause complications such as spontaneo us abortion, premature labor, and obstruction of labor. The convention al real-time ultrasound examination usually detects myomas adequately, but, in some cases, a local thickening of the uterine wall persists t hroughout the examination, interfering with the differentiation betwee n myoma and contraction. In such cases, repeat scanning approximately 30 minutes later differentiates contractions, which usually resolve, f rom myomas. We examined 10 patients with B mode and color Doppler ultr asonography. In the 5 patients with myoma, we observed splaying of the vessels around the mass, whereas in the 5 patients with contraction, there was no vessel displacement in the area of the local myometrial t hickening. The use of color Doppler and observation of these findings may obviate a prolonged ultrasound examination in questionable cases.