Transvaginal ultrasonography of nongynecologic pelvic lesions

Transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) is one of the preferred imaging modalit ies in patients with gynecologic problems because of its high diagnostic ac curacy, noninvasiveness, and wide availability. In endovaginal scanning., t he problem of sonic attenuation is much less significant than with the tran sabdominal approach in the evaluation of the viscera in the true pelvis. Pl acement of high-frequency, high-resolution probes within the vagina allows accurate assessment of all anatomic structures of the female reproductive t ract within the pelvis, and, incident-ally, a variety of pathologic conditi ons affecting, the intestinal tract, the urinary system, the pelvic walls, vessels, lymph nodes, and peritoneum can be assessed by this technique. In this article, we show the appearances of nongynecologic lesions of the fema le pelvis as imaged with TVUS and discuss the clinical indications to this kind of study and the role of TVUS in guiding interventional maneuvers thro ugh the vaginal vault. All endovaginal scans were taken with transducers at frequencies of 5.0-7.5 MHz.