Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Feb;309(2):363-371.
doi: 10.1007/s00404-023-07034-4. Epub 2023 Apr 28.

Role of ultrasonography in the evaluation of disease severity and treatment efficacy in adenomyosis

Qianhui Ren  1   2 , Ming Yuan  1   3 , Guoyun Wang  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Role of ultrasonography in the evaluation of disease severity and treatment efficacy in adenomyosis

Qianhui Ren et al. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Adenomyosis is a benign disorder characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrial glands and stroma within the myometrium. The main clinical manifestations of adenomyosis are dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and infertility, which affect patients' quality of life. Recently, with advancements in imaging techniques, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasonography have become the main diagnostic tools for adenomyosis. In addition to the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of adenomyosis, ultrasonography can also be used to evaluate the severity of adenomyosis. The emergence of new techniques, such as elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), has significantly improved the accuracy of ultrasound-based diagnosis of adenomyosis. These two imaging tools can also be used for the differential diagnosis of adenomyosis and the evaluation of treatment efficacy after medication or ablation procedure.

Objective: we review the efficacy of ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool for adenomyosis. We also aim to introduce the potential of ultrasound imaging in the evaluation of the severity of this disease, as well as the application of elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in its diagnosis.

Results and conclusion: Our findings reveal the potential value of ultrasonography combined with elastography and/or CEUS as medication guidance and efficacy evaluation tools in the long-term management of adenomyosis.

Keywords: Adenomyosis; Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography; Elastography; Transvaginal ultrasonography.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Van den Bosch T, Van Schoubroeck D (2018) Ultrasound diagnosis of endometriosis and adenomyosis: State of the art. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 51:16–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2018.01.013 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cunningham RK, Horrow MM, Smith RJ, Springer J (2018) Adenomyosis: a sonographic diagnosis. Radiographics 38(5):1576–1589. https://doi.org/10.1148/rg.2018180080 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Harada T, Khine YM, Kaponis A, Nikellis T, Decavalas G, Taniguchi F (2016) The impact of adenomyosis on women’s fertility. Obstet Gynecol Surv 71(9):557–568. https://doi.org/10.1097/ogx.0000000000000346 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Vercellini P, Consonni D, Dridi D, Bracco B, Frattaruolo MP, Somigliana E (2014) Uterine adenomyosis and in vitro fertilization outcome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod 29(5):964–977. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deu041 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Younes G, Tulandi T (2017) Effects of adenomyosis on in vitro fertilization treatment outcomes: a meta-analysis. Fertil Steril 108(3):483-490.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.06.025 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources