The predictive role of color flow Doppler ultrasonography in evaluation of ovulation induction in polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. It is estimated to be the major cause of anovulatory infertility. There is a growing interest nowadays to study the haemodynamic changes in ovarian microcirculation in PCOS • patients. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study basic ovarian vasculature in patients with polycystic ovaries and compare their blood flow characteristics with those obtained from normal looking ovaries. Then follow-up this menstrual cycle to detect the possible . role of color Doppler ultrasonography in the evaluation of Clomiphene Citrate (CC) responsiveness as an ovulation induction therapy in subjects with polycystic ovaries. • In this prospective controlled study, 35 infertile patients with ultrasonic evidence of polycystic ovaries (PCO), and 15 normally menstruating (NM) previously fertile women with normal looking ovaries on ultrasound evaluation were included in the study. Diagnosis of polycystic ovaries was based on ultrasound scans showing in each ovary 10 or more small follicles, 2-8 mm in diameter, arranged around a dense stroma or scattered throughout a pronounced stromal tissue. Infertile subjects with PCO were classified into two groups: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) group with clinical history of menstrual disorder (oligo or amenorrhoea) with or without signs of hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovary like syndrome (PCOS-Like) with regular menstrual cycle (eumenorrhoeic) and no clinical evidence of hyperandrogenism.