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Elastosonography: a possible new tool for diagnosis of adenomyosis?

  • Ultrasound
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Abstract

Objectives

Adenomyosis is a disorder defined by the presence of ectopic endometrial glands and stroma within the myometrium. Transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) is currently the first-line examination for this condition and the aim of this paper is to relate a pilot experience that was conducted using TVU to evaluate adenomyosis and which started from the assumption that tissues with anatomopathological differences show different elasticity values.

Methods

Using standard B-mode analysis and elastosonography, we evaluated 30 consecutive women with suspected uterine adenomyosis. In 15 cases the diagnosis was confirmed by histology .

Results

The adenomyotic area presented more softness (red and green) compared with the surrounding uterine tissue (blue); the borders of the adenomyotic area corresponded to the borders of the green area.

Conclusions

These preliminary results suggest that elastosonography could be considered a useful tool in the diagnosis of adenomyosis because it is non-invasive, easy to understand, easy to perform, and has a short learning curve towards becoming skilled at the procedure.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mrs Debra Levine for her linguistic advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GINTEAM Unit of Minimally Invasive Gynaecology, Corso Marconi 35, 10125, Turin, Italy

    Marco Tessarolo, Luca Bonino, Marco Camanni & Francesco Deltetto

Authors
  1. Marco Tessarolo
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  2. Luca Bonino
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  3. Marco Camanni
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  4. Francesco Deltetto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Bonino.

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Tessarolo, M., Bonino, L., Camanni, M. et al. Elastosonography: a possible new tool for diagnosis of adenomyosis?. Eur Radiol 21, 1546–1552 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-011-2064-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-011-2064-z

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