Diagnostic accuracy of transvaginal ultrasound for non-invasive diagnosis of bowel endometriosis: systematic review and meta-analysis

Gernot Hudelist, Hudelist G, G Hudelist, English J, J English, Jane A. English, A E Thomas, A. Thomas, A Tinelli, Andrea Tinelli, CF Singer, C F Singer, Singer CF, J. Keckstein
Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2010 · vol. 37(3) , pp. 257–263 · doi:10.1002/uog.8858 · PMID:20954166 · W1983344428
Systematic review / meta-analysis OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 213 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-06 ⓘ

Transvaginal ultrasound is an accurate method for non-invasively detecting deep infiltrating endometriosis of the rectosigmoid before surgery.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To critically analyze the diagnostic value of transvaginal sonography (TVS) for non-invasive, presurgical detection of bowel endometriosis. METHODS: MEDLINE (1966-2010) and EMBASE (1980-2010) databases were searched for relevant studies investigating the diagnostic accuracy of TVS for diagnosing deep infiltrating endometriosis involving the bowel. Diagnosis was established by laparoscopy and/or histopathological analysis. Likelihood ratios (LRs) were recalculated in addition to traditional measures of effectiveness. RESULTS: Out of 188 papers, a total of 10 studies fulfilled predefined inclusion criteria involving 1106 patients with suspected endometriosis. The prevalence of bowel endometriosis varied from 24 to 73.3%. LR+ ranged from 4.8 to 48.56 and LR- ranged from 0.02 to 0.36, with wide confidence intervals. Pooled estimates of sensitivities and specificities were 91 and 98%; LR+ and LR- were 30.36 and 0.09; and positive and negative predictive values were 98 and 95%, respectively. Three of the studies used bowel preparations to enhance the visibility of the rectal wall; one study directly compared the use of water contrast vs. no prior bowel enema, for which the LR- was 0.04 and 0.47, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: TVS with or without the use of prior bowel preparation is an accurate test for non-invasive, presurgical detection of deep infiltrating endometriosis of the rectosigmoid.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisdie_deep_infiltratingbowel_endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endosonography Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endosonography Endosonography Endosonography Female Female Humans Humans Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Predictive Value of Tests Predictive Value of Tests Preoperative Care Preoperative Care

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (44)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-10T06:11:15.153948+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:08:04.945943+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK