Abdominal ultrasound versus transvaginal ultrasound in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyosis

Objective To investigate the value of abdominal ultrasound versus that of transvaginal ultrasound for the diagnosis of adenomyosis.Methods The imaging data on 120 patients with adenomyosis diagnosed by transvaginal and abdominal color Doppler ultrasound were retrospectively analyzed.The findings of the two different procedures were observed.The pathological tissues were biopsied after the procedures.The results of pathological examination were used as gold standard;and the findings of ultrasound were compared with s the gold standard.Results In this study,adenomyosis was pathologically confirmed in 98 patients,uterine submucosal myoma in 17 patients,and chocolate cyst in 3 patients.The sensitivity was 91.84％ for transvaginal ultrasonography and 73.47％ for abdominal ultrasonography;the specificity was 86.36％ and 68.18％;the positive predictive values were 96.77％ and 91.14％;and the negative predictive values were 70.37％ and 36.59％,respectively.Transvaginal ultrasound was superior to abdominal ultrasound in the diagnostic accordance rate(90.83％ vs.72.50％,P＜0.05).Conclusions Transvaginal color Doppler is significantly superior to abdominal ultrasonography in sensitivity,specificity,and diagnostic accordance rate.A combination of both procedures can enhance the diagnostic accuracy of adenomyosis. Key words: Abdominal ultrasound; Transvaginal ultrasound; Adenomyosis