Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 14, Issue 7 497-501, Copyright © 1995 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Normal uterine arterial blood flow in postmenopausal women assessed by transvaginal color Doppler sonography: the effect of hormone replacement therapy
F. Bonilla-Musoles, M. C. Marti, M. J. Ballester, F. Raga and N. G. Osborne
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital Clinico Universitario, Valencia, Spain.
We used transvaginal color Doppler sonography to study the effect of
hormone replacement on the uterine arterial blood flow for 203
postmenopausal women. The regimens studied involved estrogen replacement
alone, continuous combined estrogen and progestogen, and estrogen followed
sequentially by combined estrogen-progestogen. The mean pulsatility index
fell to 65% +/- 9% and the mean resistive index fell to 87% +/- 4% of
baseline during the first month of therapy (P < 0.0001). The addition of
a progestogen did not alter the effect of estrogen alone (P > 0.5). Our
findings suggest that the increase in vascular flow occurs even in women
who begin therapy long after menopause.
