A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON ROLE OF ULTRASOUND IN THE EVALUATION OF UTERINE FIBROIDS IN PERI-MENOPAUSAL FEMALES WITH HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATION

Vivek Kumar Garg and Manjula Sharma*

ABSTRACT

Background- Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is a very common and debilitating condition in perimenopausal females with a significantly high morbidity and mortality. Uterine fibroids remain one of the most significant etiologies for AUB. Our goal for this study was to evaluate the role of ultrasounds in assessing uterine fibroids and to find it’s diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of uterine fibroids in comparison to current histopathological tests. Methods- This was a prospective study conducted at Department of Radiodiagnosis, NSCB Zonal Hospital, (Mandi, Himachal Pradesh), an urban secondary health center in India. The study was carried out for a period of 6 months from March 2021 to August 2021.Based on predetermined criteria of inclusion and exclusion, 60 perimenopausal females were inducted in the study. All the patients enrolled for the study were counselled and due informed consent for the ultrasounds was taken. Statistical analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy were derived. Gold standard test for comparison with ultrasound findings was histopathological evaluation. Results- A bulk of the uterine fibroids observed were in intramural location, showing hypoechoic echotexture. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy in comparison to histopathological correlation was found to be 88.89%, 86.67%, 95.24%, 72.22% and 88.33% respectively. Conclusion- Based on our study, it was found that, ultrasound was very sensitive and specific in diagnosing uterine fibroids. Being most of our patient belong to rural background and ample availability of ultrasound in our setup, we propose ultrasound as primary investigative modality for work up of abnormal uterine bleeding in perimenopausal age group.

Keywords: Ultrasound, abnormal uterine bleeding, uterine fibroid, histopathological.