Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology : the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
-
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol · Aug 1995
Postpartum surveillance of urinary retention by ultrasonography: the effect of epidural analgesia.
Our objective was to investigate by ultrasonography whether the risk for postpartum urinary retention is increased following administration of epidural analgesia during labor and delivery. In a prospective study, 106 healthy women who had undergone vaginal delivery were evaluated. Sixty-eight of the women had received epidural analgesia during labor and delivery. ⋯ With modern obstetric practice, epidural analgesia for labor is not associated with an increased risk for postpartum urinary retention. The non-invasive nature of ultrasound renders it especially attractive and useful for measuring residual urine volume in postpartum patients. The safety, simplicity and relative comfort of this method over-ride the slightly imperfect calculations that it currently yields, and makes it preferable to catheterization or cystometry for evaluation of residual urine volume.
-
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol · Aug 1995
Changes mimicking endometrial neoplasia in postmenopausal, tamoxifen-treated women with breast cancer: a transvaginal Doppler study.
In menopausal patients with breast cancer who receive tamoxifen therapy, transvaginal sonography may show an abnormal endometrium. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of prolonged tamoxifen therapy on endometrial blood flow in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer, and to correlate blood flow characteristics with the sonographic appearance of the endometrium and its pathology. Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound examinations were performed on 45 postmenopausal women (age range 54-70 years) with breast cancer, who had been treated with tamoxifen for 1-3 years. ⋯ In Group 2, all patients had scanty, atrophic endometria. Six of the eight patients with endometrial polyps had an RI of < 0.4 and none had malignant changes. These data suggest that tamoxifen therapy in women with postmenopausal breast cancer induces endometrial, morphological and blood flow changes, mimicking endometrial neoplasia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)