Diagnosis of Pelvic Congestion Syndrome Using Transabdominal and Transvaginal Sonography

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. We prospectively evaluated transabdominal and transvaginal sonographic findings of patients with pelvic congestion syndrome and compared them with those of healthy volunteers.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We examined 32 patients with pelvic congestion syndrome and 35 control subjects. Using transabdominal sonography, we evaluated the ovarian veins for diameter and flow direction, presence of pelvic varicocele, diameter of the pelvic veins, change of the duplex waveform during the Valsalva's maneuver, volume of the uterus, and presence of polycystic changes in the ovaries. We compared and statistically analyzed each parameter in the pelvic congestion syndrome group and in the control group.RESULTS. The mean (± SD) diameter of the left ovarian vein was 0.79 ± 0.23 cm in the pelvic congestion syndrome group and 0.49 ± 0.15 cm in the control group (p = 0.000). Reversed caudal flow in the left ovarian vein was present in 22 of 22 patients and in four of 16 control subjects. Pelvic varicoceles were present i...