Transabdominal Ultrasound Assessment of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Jeong, Kyung Ah; Lee, Woon Jeong; Chung, Hye Won

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to determine the diagnostic performance of transabdominal ultrasound by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, in order to evaluate the usefulness in establishing the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
METHODS
Questionnaires were given to 8,793 reproductive women reviewed at Ewha Womans University Mokdong hospital. Ultrasound examinations were performed in 701 women with a transabdominal transducer. Transabdominal ultrasounds were performed in 185 normal control women (normal menstruation without hyperandrogenism or PCO morphology) and 248 PCOS patients according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) PCOS diagnosis criteria. ROC curves were calculated for ovarian volume and follicle number.
RESULTS
In normal control group, the mean age were 23.64+/-4.26 years old and the mean ovarian volume and follicle number were 6.03+/-1.89 cm3 and 6.49+/-1.93, respectively. The ovarian volume showed an area under the ROC curve (AURC) of 0.761. A ovarian volume decision threshold >9 cm3 had a sensitivity of 51.0% and a specificity of 91.4% for the diagnosis of PCOS. The follicle number showed an AURC of 0.733. A follicle number decision threshold > or =9 had a sensitivity of 54.9% and a specificity of 87.0% for the diagnosis of PCOS. A follicle number decision threshold > or =10 had a sensitivity of 53.2% and a specificity of 90.4%. A follicle number and a ovarian volume did not have a high diagnostic power for screening for PCOS.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that transabdominal ultrasound assessment is not effective for the detection of PCOS in young women of reproductive age.