Superficial Endometriosis: The Ultrasound Diagnosis

Abstract

Study Objective Review the background, clinical presentation, and options for diagnosing superficial endometriosis: 1) Illustrate the steps to visualize SE with ultrasound and the relevant sonographic features and 2) and discuss the clinical importance of a non-operative diagnosis as well as the limitations of ultrasound in this context. Design Educational video outlining the potential of ultrasound in aiding in the diagnosis of superficial endometriosis. Setting Outpatient ultrasound. Patients or Participants Pelvic pain patients in a tertiary-care clinic. Interventions Ambulatory advanced ultrasound to identify superficial endometriosis. Measurements and Main Results N/A. Conclusion Non-operative diagnosis of superficial endometriosis can be helpful for the patient and the gynecologist. The outpatient diagnosis has multiple advantages over surgical diagnosis, including lower medical costs, decreased morbidity for patients and a shorter interval between clinical suspicion and diagnosis. Additionally, ultrasound diagnosis provides important information for the surgeon, improving the accuracy of operative booking and allowing for triaging to appropriate surgeons, potentially decreasing the rate of incomplete and abandoned endometriosis surgeries. The patient prerequisites for ultrasound include symptoms consistent with possible endometriosis or unexplained infertility, Informed consent and being able to tolerate pelvic ultrasound exams. The imaging prerequisites include: a non-obliterated posterior curl-de-sac, free fluid in the pelvis and no deep or ovarian endometriosis. Review the background, clinical presentation, and options for diagnosing superficial endometriosis: 1) Illustrate the steps to visualize SE with ultrasound and the relevant sonographic features and 2) and discuss the clinical importance of a non-operative diagnosis as well as the limitations of ultrasound in this context. Educational video outlining the potential of ultrasound in aiding in the diagnosis of superficial endometriosis. Outpatient ultrasound. Pelvic pain patients in a tertiary-care clinic. Ambulatory advanced ultrasound to identify superficial endometriosis. N/A. Non-operative diagnosis of superficial endometriosis can be helpful for the patient and the gynecologist.