Establishing patterns on hysteroscopy in abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB)

Hysteropathological Correlation in Abnormal Uterine Bleeding in a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Background

Abnormal uterine bleeding is a common problem mainly encountered in reproductive age group and post-menopausal women. Hysteroscopy is a safe, simple, well tolerated and reliable procedure for the diagnosis of AUB across all age groups. The aim of the study is to determine the association of hysteroscopy and histopathologic examination (HPE) findings in abnormal uterine bleeding. The secondary objective of the study are to enumerate the hysteroscopy findings in patients with AUB and to evaluate the pattern of AUB.

Materials and Methods

Observational cross-sectional study among 60 women in reproductive and post-menopausal age group presenting with features/symptoms suggestive of abnormal uterine bleeding were studied. All patients reporting in the outpatient department (OPD) and who are eligible to participate were included in the study, after obtaining written informed consent. Detailed history, Clinical examination, Ultrasound pelvis and endometrial thickness assessment is done. Hysteroscopic findings were compared against histopathological findings.

Results

The various patterns of bleeding documented in our study population were menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, menometrorrhagia, polymenorrhea, and post-menopausal bleeding. Out of these patterns, the commonest was menorrhagia at 50.0% and post-menopausal bleeding at 26.67%. In our study population, the various hysteroscopy findings were strawberry, tongue-shaped projections, pebble stones, polypoidal patterns, and cerebroid patterns. Out of these, the most common was a polypoidal pattern, strawberry pattern, and tongue-shaped projections with 45%, 31.67%, and 26.7%, respectively. The most common histopathology finding was secretory and proliferative constituting 35% and 26.67%, respectively. Carcinoma endometrium constitutes about 6.67% of the study population. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of strawberry appearance in hysteroscopy in comparison with secretory changes in histopathology were 52.38%, 79.49%, 57.89%, and 75.61%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of tongue-shaped projections appearance in hysteroscopy in comparison with HPE findings was 60%, 76.36%, 18.75%, and 95.45%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of polypoidal pattern in hysteroscopy in comparison with Endometrial hyperplasia in histopathology was 66.67%, 56.14%, 7.41%, and 96.97%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of cerebroid appearance in hysteroscopy in comparison with carcinoma endometrium in histopathology were 75.0%, 100%, 100%, and 98.25%, respectively. This correlation of cerebroid pattern with carcinoma endometrium was highly significant. Among all correlations, the highly reliable was in Carcinoma endometrium followed by endometrial polyps.

Conclusion

Hysteroscopy has high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing intrauterine pathology especially endometrial cancer followed by endometrial polyps. Among the various patterns of abnormal uterine bleeding, menorrhagia was the most common. A combination of hysteroscopy and endometrial sampling was found to increase diagnostic accuracy in patients with abnormal uterine bleeding and will effectively guide us in planning the appropriate management for these patients.

Hemoglobin Levels and Platelet Counts after Hysteroscopy Due to Abnormal Uterine Bleeding

Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is a condition defined as all uterine bleeding that differs from physiological menstruation. The etiology of AUB has been classified by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). It includes structural categories, such as endometrial polyps, adenomyosis, leiomyomas, hyperplasia, and malignant neoplasms, and non-structural categories, i.e., hemorrhages due to congenital and acquired coagulopathies, ovarian dysfunction, disorders of the local endometrial hemostasis mechanism with normal organ structure, iatrogenic causes, and due to other poorly defined causes. This is a retrospective study based on the medical data of a group of 543 women aged 21−88 years (52.81 ± 11.79) (p < 0.01) hospitalized at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department in Biała Podlaska, Poland. These patients underwent an hysteroscopy procedure due to excessive uterine bleeding of varied, FIGO-divided etiology. The results show the dependence of postoperative hemoglobin and platelet count on the etiology of bleeding and the age of the women. The majority of patients had normal hemoglobin and platelet counts after the procedure, while moderate anemia was the most common disorder. It occurred most frequently in patients undergoing hysteroscopy due to heavy menstrual bleeding.