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Diagnostic procedures for detecting endometriosis: ultrasound DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES FOR DETECTING ENDOMETRIOSIS: ULTRASOUND
Nature provided the whale and the bat with the miracle of an innate sonar system. Scientists studied the process, pretty much duplicating it for its original technological intent—wartime vigilance. During world War II, navy submarines negotiated their way through deepest waters using sonar to detect the location of enemy vessels unseen by peritcopic sighting.
Sonar is the simple process of bouncing high-frequency acoustical vibrations off solid masses. The waves then bounce back in echo patterns that appear as a picture on a specially devised screen. Sonar is the mother of sonography, or ultrasonography, known familiarly as ultrasound—a relatively new and popular diagnostic technique, gaining ever increasing acceptance for confirmation of pelvic abnormalities. It is a convenient way to diagnose both pelvic masses and fetal size (sometimes, too, the sex of the unborn child) during pregnancy. Doctors are choosing sonography over X rays for a variety of diagnoses, especially since ultrasound is completely harmless to the body.
When these high-frequency sounds are projected into the body, the reflected "echo'' on the screen indicates the size and location of a tumor. Doctors can freeze the picture of a growth on the screen and measure it. The technique is especially useful in locating uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts, although occasionally, there is difficulty in sonographic diagnosis in defining the precise location of a tumor—is it growing on the side of the uterus or on the ovary? Since ovarian tumors are a more serious matter than uterine masses, laparoscopy might be necessary if sonography proves ineffective as a confirming diagnostic tool.
As with laparoscopy, sonography facilitates an accurate diagnosis when pelvic organs are lifted from view. The "lifting" here is done not with gas, but with water. That is, women prepare for ultrasound testing before coming to the doctor's office by drinking six to eight glasses of water, thus filling their bladders. The amply filled bladder moves organs up just enough so that the doctor can see the uterus and ovaries more clearly. A practiced ultrasonographer can usually detect a cyst and identify its type (and its contents) by the echo pattern on the screen and determine if the cyst is endometriotic in nature.
Ultrasound has its benefits, but in my opinion, this technique cannot pick up endometriosis in its early stages, when many women really need help in managing the disease and when it is most adroitly treated.
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