PELVIC ULTRASOUND SCANNING OF THE OVARIES IN ADOLESCENT ANORECTIC PATIENTS AT LOW-WEIGHT AND AFTER WEIGHT RECOVERY

In sixteen adolescent anorectic inpatients with secondary amenorrhea p elvic ultrasound examination of the ovaries was performed at lowest we ight and after weight recovery. The outcome was assessed six months la ter ar followup, assigning the patients to the categories of good, int ermediate and poor outcome according to the modified Morgan and Russel l criteria. At lowest weight all patients' ovaries were smaller than e xpected for age. After weight recovery the good outcome group had matu re arid fully developed ovaries whereas the ovarian morphology of pati ents with poor outcome remained prepubertal. The ovarian volume in the good outcome group was significantly higher than in the poor outcome group. From a threshold BMI of 17.8 upwards we observed a positive lin ear correlation between BMI and ovarian volume. At BMI 18 the probabil ity for recovered ovaries was 53% rising to 82% at BMI 19.8, which was the highest noting in our study. Nevertheless, we could not find a cl ear cut-off BMI for definite prediction of recovered ovaries. Therefor e, in patients with anorexia nervosa pelvic ultrasound is a very suita ble method for determining the target weight required for recovery of ovarian function and resumption of menses. Normalized ovaries indicate favourable outcome and physical recovery.