Office hysteroscopy for postmenopausal women: Feasibility and correlation with transvaginal ultrasound

Diagnostic Value of Vaginal Ultrasound under Improved Clustering Algorithm Combined with Hysteroscopy in Abnormal Uterine Bleeding

In order to explore the diagnostic value of the improved clustering algorithm of vaginal ultrasound combined with hysteroscopy in abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB), 128 patients diagnosed with AUB in the hospital were selected as the research objects. A K-means improved clustering color image segmentation algorithm was designed and applied to AUB vaginal ultrasound image processing. The running time, mean square error (MSE), and peak to signal noise ratio (PSNR) were calculated to evaluate the algorithm, and the sensitivity, specificity, negative likelihood ratio, and positive likelihood ratio were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the detection method. In addition, combined with hysteroscopy, a comprehensive evaluation of the diagnostic value of abnormal uterine bleeding diseases was implemented. The results showed that compared with the traditional K-means clustering algorithm, the running time of the improved K-means clustering color image segmentation algorithm in the training set was significantly shortened, the MSE was significantly decreased, and the PSNR was significantly increased ( $P<0.05$ ). The sensitivity, specificity, negative likelihood ratio, and positive likelihood ratio (90.5%, 93.2%, 84.3, and 96.3%) of AUB diagnosis were significantly improved in the algorithm of vaginal ultrasound combined with hysteroscopy ( $P<0.05$ ). In summary, the combination of vaginal ultrasound and hysteroscopy based on K-means improved clustering color image segmentation algorithm can significantly improve the clinical diagnostic accuracy of AUB patients.

Evaluation of frozen section biopsy for fast track diagnosis of endometrial pathology in high-risk women with abnormal uterine bleeding

OBJECTIVE

To study the accuracy of frozen section biopsy for endometrial pathology in high-risk women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB).

STUDY DESIGN

A case-control study was conducted between November 2017 to April 2019, a total of 150 women with postmenopausal bleeding, perimenopausal AUB, and high-risk women of age < 40 years with AUB were recruited. All women underwent transvaginal sonography and Doppler, based on age-appropriate endometrial thickness cut-offs 80 women then underwent hysteroscopy. Based on hysteroscopy, women suspicious of malignancy were taken as cases (n = 40) and those with benign findings as controls (n = 40). All cases and controls underwent dilatation and curettage (D & C) with frozen section (FS) and routine histopathology.

RESULTS

The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive likelihood ratio (LR), negative LR, and overall test accuracy of FS were 90.9%, 93.19%, 83.33%, 96.19%, 13.8, 0.1 and 86.25% respectively for diagnosing endometrial hyperplasia and cancer taking histopathology as the gold standard. Correlation between frozen section biopsy and histopathology was highly significant (p < 0.001) on D & C specimens and the level of agreement was good (K = 0.778).

CONCLUSION

In women suspicious of malignancy on hysteroscopy, frozen section has high accuracy on D&C specimen and can be used to diagnose endometrial hyperplasia and cancer in an effort to fast-track investigations and work-up for definitive treatment while awaiting final histopathology.

Comparative retrospective study on transvaginal sonography versus office hysteroscopy in the diagnosis of endometrial pathology among different subgroups

BACKGROUND

Transvaginal sonography (TVS) and office hysteroscopy are considered essential diagnostic tool for the gynecologic everyday practice. Through the years equipment developments in both techniques along with cumulative experience gained by the gynecologists result in a disunity among clinicians in choosing optimal diagnostic approach with regards to endometrial pathology.

AIM

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of TVS versus office hysteroscopy (OHSC) in detecting endometrial pathology. Results were compared to available scientific evidence available among similar published studies.

METHODS

Comparative Retrospective study performed at the Endoscopic Unit, Department of Gynecology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece. A total of 2675 cases were collected for this study from January 1997 until August 2019. All cases recruited underwent a TVS followed by office hysteroscopy (OHSC) for various indications according to the local protocol. Endometrial samples from all cases were obtained and histology confirmed the diagnosis. Sonographic and hysteroscopic results were correlated with histologic reports to assess the diagnostic accuracy of both techniques.

RESULTS

In a total of 2675 cases recruited for this study, 23.2% were postmenopausal while the majority (76.7%) was of reproductive age. The commonest indication for hysteroscopy was abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) accounting for 29.7% of the cases. Overall, TVS demonstrated diagnostic accuracy of 84.7%% in detecting endometrial pathology, compared to 97.3% of OHSC. Sensitivity, specificity, positive prognostic value (PPV) and negative prognostic value (NPV) of TVS detecting endometrial pathology were 84.0, 86.8, 95.3 and 63.0%, respectively. The corresponding values for hysteroscopy were 98.9, 95.1, 98.4 and 93.9%, respectively. Diagnostic value of both techniques was estimated in 6 (six) additional subgroups: total sample with AUB, women of reproductive age, women of reproductive age with AUB, women of reproductive age with infertility issues, postmenopausal women and postmenopausal women suffering from postmenopausal bleeding (PMB). All values were calculated with regards to histologic findings as gold standard technique. All results were correlated with scientific evidence collected from the international literature.

CONCLUSION

Office hysteroscopy is a more reliable tool in detecting endometrial pathologies compared to TVS regardless of reproductive status or clinical presentation. TVS is likely to orientate and guide specialists on what to expect prior to an hysteroscopic intervention.