A Melbourne gynaecologist is encouraging ultrasound imaging specialists to “look harder” behind women’s uteruses for signs of endometriosis.

Dr Sofie Piessens reports that, while many doctors do not consider ultrasound an effective way to diagnose endometriosis, a study of 100 patients she saw between 2009 and 2011 showed it to be more than 90 per cent effective. She presented these findings to the annual scientific meeting of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) in November 2011, and was interviewed by The Age newspaper in January 2012.

Other researchers around the world have published data, says Dr Piessens, showing that deep infiltrating endometriosis (a particularly damaging form of the disease) can be effectively diagnosed by scanning behind the uterus instead of just the front and sides.

Dr Piessens chairs the Australian Association of Obstetric and Gynaecological Ultrasonologists and is an honorary senior lecturer at Monash University Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Dr Elizabeth Farrell, a gynaecologist at Jean Hailes, says “This is very important as an investigation, especially for diagnosis of deep infiltrative endometriosis and bowel involvement”.

Further reading

Jean Hailes endometriosis fact sheet252.38 KB

Diagnosing endometriosis

Content created 17 February 2012