Ultrasonic study of follicular maturation, ovulation and development of corpus luteum during normal menstrual cycles.

Ovarian follicular growth, ovulation and development of corpus luteum was monitored with ultrasound in 29 normal menstrual cycles in 14 women. Results were correlated to changes in serum estradiol, LH and progesterone levels. The follicles reached a maximum diameter of 20.5 +/- 2.70 mm (mean +/- SD) with an intercycle variation of 16 to 25 mm, and growth rates ranged between -2 and 6 mm from the day before the LH peak to the day of the LH peak. Cumulus echoes were observed in all follicles with a maximum diameter of more than 17 mm and the cumulus appeared from 1 to 3 days before ovulation. On the day after the LH peak, the follicle was still present in two cycles and had disappeared from 15 cycles. In 11 cases different morphologic patterns could be visualized at the former sites of the follicles. In the middle of the luteal phase the mature corpus luteum was seen as an echogenic area in 16 cases and as a cyst in 1 case.