DOPPLER STUDIES OF UTERINE ARTERIES IN SPONTANEOUS AND ARTIFICIALLY INDUCED MENOPAUSAL WOMEN

In the postmenopausal period women's genital organs undergo several ch anges and female hormones, as well as modification of vascular reactiv ity to various stimuli, play a major role in this process. We studied the modification of uterine vascularity consequent to spontaneous or a rtificially induced menopause, with gonadotropin releasing hormone (Gn RH) analogs. Flow velocity waveforms of the uterine arteries were dete cted using a color Doppler imaging system with a transvaginal probe; t he pulsatility index was calculated. The study group consisted of is w omen observed before and after 6 months of treatment with GnRH analogs (triptorelin 3.75 mg depot every 4 weeks intramuscularly) for uterine fibromyomata, 20 women after 5 years of spontaneous menopause; and 20 healthy and normally menstruating women in the late luteal phase. We found a significant difference among the three groups with a progressi ve increase of the pulsatility index in spontaneous menopausal women. This phenomenon may be due to a different hormonal pattern which exist s in spontaneous and artificially induced menopause (increase of gonad otropin level in the former and decrease in the latter), and to a decr ease of vascular compliance caused by progressive sclerosis of the vas al walls.