Researchers at the University of Rome have found that a third of young women presenting with severe pain before their menstrual cycle, known as dysmenorrhea, were found to have endometriosis following an ultrasound
The Italian team which was led by Dr Francesco Martire discovered that accurate ultrasound scans helped to provide an early diagnosis by identifying endometriosis lesions.
Dr Martire writes in the study report: “Young patients with dysmenorrhea should be referred to an expert sonographer to minimize the delay between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis.”
The researchers wanted to investigate how using ultrasound scans can detect the different forms of how endometriosis presents in the pelvis in women younger than 25. The study included 371 women who all presented with dysmenorrhea between the age of 12 and 25.
The women had been referred after suffering from severe pain, and of those women, 131 presented with endometriosis after an ultrasound.
Clinicians typically use a laparoscopy as the gold standard for diagnosing endometriosis although it is seen as an invasive procedure. In recent years the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology recognised an ultrasound as a standard for a diagnosis.
The authors wrote that the research highlighted the need for noninvasive procedures to diagnose endometriosis.
As written in Auntminnie.com, the study concluded: “Isolated disease findings, mostly small uterosacral ligament thickening, mild adenomyosis, and small endometriomas, are common features of endometriosis associated with severe dysmenorrhea in young patients. These results are consistent with endometriosis probably starting early in life.”
Learn more about endometriosis:
Endometriosis explained, by Mr James Nicopoullos
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