Accuracy of Doppler assessment of the uterine arteries in healthy girls for the diagnosis of pubertal onset

• Published in: Endocrine 2022-04, Vol.76 (1), p.172-178
• Main Authors: Cheuiche, Amanda Veiga, da Silveira, Letícia Guimarães, Escott, Gustavo Monteiro, Lucena, Iara Regina Siqueira, Puñales, Márcia, Costenaro, Fabíola, Kopacek, Cristiane, de Paula, Leila Pedroso, Silveiro, Sandra Pinho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adolescent; Arteries; Blood flow; Breast; Child; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Diagnosis; Doppler effect; Endocrinology; Endometrium; Female; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; multidisciplinary; Original Article; Ovaries; Physical growth; Puberty; Science; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography; Ultrasonography, Doppler - methods; Ultrasound; Uterine Artery - diagnostic imaging; Uterus; Uterus - diagnostic imaging; Veins & arteries
• ISSN: 1559-0100; 1355-008X; 1559-0100
• DOI: 10.1007/s12020-021-02948-y

Purpose To evaluate the accuracy of the uterine artery pulsatility index (PI) for the diagnosis of pubertal onset in girls. Methods Cross-sectional study of girls with normal pubertal development. Puberty was diagnosed by the presence of Tanner breast development score ≥2. All girls underwent pelvic ultrasound and Doppler imaging of the uterine arteries. We evaluated the uterine artery PI and uterine, endometrial, and ovarian measurements. We used ROC curves with cutoffs determined by Youden index for data analysis. Results We included 169 girls aged 5–16 years who underwent 202 pelvic ultrasound examinations. Prepubertal girls had a significantly higher mean PI (6.70 ± 2.15) than girls in initial puberty (4.14 ± 1.55) and in late puberty (2.81 ± 1.05) ( P