Severity of symptoms in primary dysmenorrhea--a Doppler study

Abstract

Objective: Doppler findings in women with severe symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea include high impedance to blood flow in uterine arteries with a preserved cyclic pattern throughout the whole cycle. Doppler findings in women who present with mild symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea are not yet documented. The aim of this study was to investigate possible differences in Doppler findings among women with mild and severe primary dysmenorrhea.

Study design: One hundred and fifty four women were examined with color Doppler ultrasound: 50 in the control group, 60 in the mild and 44 in the severe primary dysmenorrhea subgroup. We calculated resistance index in uterine arteries in these women on the first day of the cycle, in the follicular (days 9-12) and the luteal (days 20-23) phase of the cycle and used analysis of variance for comparing results.

Results: The rate of visualization was 100% for uterine and arcuate arteries, 44-76% for the radial and 32-62% for spiral arteries, respectively. A significant difference in Doppler index values among the mild and severe dysmenorrheic group was observed in the luteal phase for the arcuate artery and in all the three measurement periods for the radial and spiral arteries.

Conclusion: There is a difference in Doppler findings between women with mild and severe symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea.