Combo of physical examination, transvaginal ultrasound and pelvic MRI best for diagnosing deep endometriosis: Study
Paris: A combination of physical examination, pelvic MRI, and transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) is more accurate for diagnosing deep infiltrating endometriosis than each of the individual techniques, suggests a recent study published in Fertility and Sterility. The better diagnosis is due to each technique's equally high sensitivity and the high specificity of TVUS and pelvic MRI.
Physical exams are considered accurate for assessing endometriosis diagnosis by correlating pain with induration or nodules found on digital exams. However, this method has lower sensitivity than medical imaging techniques such as MRI or ultrasound. MRI and TVUS are also used in clinical practice. MRI is highly sensitive; however, its accessibility is less than TVUS. Meanwhile, TVUS has variable sensitivity based on the location of endometriosis.
Alexis Roditis and the research team from Paris explored the ability of the three techniques alone (transvaginal ultrasonography, physical examination and magnetic resonance imaging) and combined for the diagnosis of Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis.
For this purpose, the researchers retrospectively queried the pelvic MRI database for identifying women who underwent TVUS, physical examination, and pelvic MRI for DIE up to 12 months before surgery between 2016 and 2020. The presence of uterosacral ligaments (USL), rectosigmoid (RS), vaginal, sacrorectogenital or parametrial septum DIE shown by TVUS, physical examination, and MRI were correlated with histological and surgical findings.
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