Transvaginal gray-scale and Doppler ultrasound examinations of the uterus and ovaries in healthy postmenopausal women.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to elicit reference data representative of normal findings at transvaginal gray-scale and Doppler ultrasound examination of the uterus and ovaries in postmenopausal women. A total of 144 asymptomatic postmenopausal women with normal findings at clinical gynecological examination were included in the study. They underwent transvaginal sonography including Doppler measurements of blood flow velocity in the uterine and ovarian arteries. Ninety-eight (68%) women had a normal uterus and normal or non-visible ovaries at ultrasound examination, 23 (16%) had small uterine myomas but normal or non-visible adnexa, 19 (13%) had small adnexal cysts but a normal uterus, and four (3%) had both small myomas and small adnexal cysts. The median time-averaged maximum velocity (TAMXV) and pulsatility index (PI) values for the right and left uterine artery of normal uteri (n = 117) were 10.4 cm/s (range 2.2-43.0) and 10.6 cm/s (2.9-30.8), and 2.33 (0.97-5.13) and 2.35 (0.98-4.58), respectively. Median volumes of the normal right (n = 93) and left ovaries (n = 90) were 1.3 cm3 (0.4-3.7) and 1.2 cm3 (0.4-3.0), respectively, and median TAMXV and PI values for the stromal arteries in the normal right (n = 53) and left ovaries (n = 54) were 2.1 cm/s (1.3-4.6) and 2.3 cm/s (1.1-7.3), and 1.31 (0.65-2.61) and 1.26 (0.63-1.85), respectively. Our results provide a basis for gray-scale and Doppler ultrasound studies of pathological conditions in the female pelvis after the menopause.