LIMITATIONS OF TRANSVAGINAL SONOGRAPHY AND COLOR DOPPLER IMAGING IN THE DIFFERENTIATION OF ENDOMETRIAL CARCINOMA FROM BENIGN LESIONS

We conducted this study to test the hypothesis that transvaginal ultra sonography and color Doppler imaging of the uterine arteries are compl ementary methods in the assessment of patients with postmenopausal ble eding. Sixty-seven patients were studied. Seventeen suffered from endo metrial carcinoma, 12 from benign endometrial lesions (six polyp, six hyperplasia) and 38 had no organic pathology. Transvaginal ultrasonogr aphy was found to be superior to CDI in the detection of pathologic co nditions of the endometrium, but neither method can distinguish benign lesions from their malignant counterparts. CDI does not give addition al information over that obtained by transvaginal ultrasonography in t he assessment of patients with postmenopausal bleeding, and the limita tions of both methods in the differentiation of endometrial carcinoma from benign lesions need to be recognized.