Pelvic ultrasonography in pediatric and adolescent endocrine disorders.

Pelvic ultrasonography was employed in the evaluation of 57 pediatric and adolescent patients with disorders of sexual development or differentiation. It provided a rapid and accurate method for: (1) detection of the presence of a uterus and its stimulation by estrogen; (2) detection of ovaries in children over the age of two years and assessment of their size and symmetry, and (3) identifying ovarian pathology such as cystic areas. Its value as an additional diagnostic modality in the approach to the infant with ambiguous genitalia, the child with precocious puberty, and the adolescent with amenorrhea, hirsuitism, or virilization was demonstrated.