Adenomyosis Part 2 - Clinical Implications
Take Home Points
adenomyosis definition
- Presence of ectopic endometrial tissue in the myometrium
- This induces a hypertrophic/hyperplastic reaction in the surrounding myometrium
what is considered an enlarged uterus
- There is a gamut of what people can consider "enlarged"
- However, due to some legal cases that we have been involved with, we feel it is prudent to only use the term enlarged when the uterus is > 12 cm in length.
is adenomyosis common?
- Yes!
- 30% of the general population
- 70% of hysterectomy specimens
- But how clinically relevant?
what are the clinical implications
- It is certainly associated with dysmenorrhea, bleeding and other symptoms
- There is an association with infertility
- However, MOST women are asymptomatic
- So, it is important to use findings that will increase our positive predictive value