Sonographic determination of uterine size in young Ghanaian women

Abstract

Pelvic examination is necessary for all gynecological patients presenting for examination. Abdominal ultrasound examination may enhance or even replace routine bimanual palpation for the assessment of uterine size as ultrasound examination correlates well with gross pathology measurements of hysterectomy specimens [1] in most cases.

This study was performed to determine the average size of the uterus in Ghanaian woman between menarche and 20 years.

The study was carried out between January 2002 and June 2003. It involved postmenarcheal students aged 20 years and below who had no previous history of gynecological problems. The examination was done with a Philips SD 240 ultrasound machine, using a 3.5 MHz transducer.

Sixty women were involved in the study. Their ages ranged between 13 and 19 years with a mean age of 17±1.7 years. The age at menarche ranged between 10 and 17 years with a mean of 12.3±1.4 years. Forty‐two (70%) of the women were in the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle at the time of the examination and 18 were in the secretory phase.

The mean length of the uterus was 7.1±1.1 cm (S.D.), the mean width was 4.6±0.9 cm (S.D.) and the mean transverse diameter was 2.9±0.5 cm (S.D.). Twenty‐four patients (40%) had all three measurements above the mean values. There was no significant association between mean uterine measurements and the number of years a woman had been having regular menstrual cycles.