ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF OVARIAN ACTIVITY UNDER ORAL-CONTRACEPTIVES

The trend towards changing the composition of the contraceptive pill i n order to decrease side effects might lead to increased ovarian activ ity. This may decrease reliability. Therefore, a non-invasive method f or monitoring the suppressive effect of the pill on ovarian function i s warranted. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether o r not diagnostic ultrasound might be the method of choice for studying residual ovarian activity during pill use. In 89 women on a low-dose oral contraceptive (30 mcg ethinyl-estradiol (EE) / 75 mcg gestodene), the first two months of pill-intake were monitored extensively with d iagnostic ultrasound. The study revealed that only one ultrasound inve stigation was needed during the first week of pill intake to discover all relevant cases of residual ovarian activity. Follow-up investigati ons are needed to quantify this activity more specifically.