The SUGO team uses modern and expert ultrasound techniques to assess patients with abnormal bleeding related to periods or at other times unrelated to periods.
The uterus is an organ that is built to regularly bleed during the years from puberty to menopause. Sometimes this is considered period-related bleeding and at other times, it is unrelated to a period. Abnormal bleeding is something many women and people with a uterus will experience in their life. Compared to average bleeding, periods could be heavy, longer, far apart, or absent. Other abnormal bleeding events people can experience include bleeding between periods, bleeding after sexual intercourse, and bleeding after menopause.
Some common anatomical causes of abnormal uterine bleeding include fibroids, polyps, and adenomyosis. Fibroids and polyps are growths within the uterus – either within the muscle or the uterus or within the cavity of the uterus. They are benign (non-cancerous) in the vast majority of cases. These can usually be easily diagnosed using normal two- and three-dimensional transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound.
A specialized type of ultrasound called saline infusion sonohysterography (SIS) can be used to evaluate the inside of the uterine cavity for fibroids or polyps in this area when there is a suspicion. SIS can replace hysteroscopic (keyhole) surgery for seeing intra-cavitary focal lesions like fibroids and polyps and can provide your gynecologist with the appropriate pre-operative information if there is a plan to perform any hysteroscopic (keyhole) procedure to remove them.
Hormonal abnormalities are a common cause of bleeding abnormalities. Cancer or pre-cancerous cells in the endometrium is a possible cause of abnormal bleeding, usually in people who are postmenopausal. While ultrasound may not be the ideal method to detect abnormal hormonal levels leading to bleeding abnormalities, it is usually the first tool to assess the uterus in patients who have had an episode of postmenopausal bleeding.
