The role of shear wave elastography in predicting endometrial cancer in patients presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding

OBJECTIVE: Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) is an objective quantitative ultrasound elastography technique that can demonstrate the stiffness of anatomical structures to aid in their detection and characterization. We aimed to evaluate the role of shear wave elastography in differentiating endometrial carcinoma from benign uterine pathologies in women with abnormal uterine bleeding. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted at our institution from January 2020 to April 2020. A hundred patients with endometrial sampling planned and SWE due to abnormal uterine bleeding were included in the study. According to the histopathological results of the patients, those with normal and atrophic endometrium results were defined as group I (control group), those with benign results such as polyps and endometrial hyperplasia were defined as group II, and those with endometrial cancers were defined as group III. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, a statistically significant difference was found in Emean (mean and adjusted mean) value between the study groups (F2.96=86.37, p<.001, η2=0.64). The post-hoc analysis was performed with a Bonferroni adjustment. The mean Emean value was found to be statistically significantly higher in group III (17.14±0.40) compared to group I (10.39±0.26) and group II (11.49±0.32) (p<0.001). In addition, a statistically significant difference was found between the benign and normal groups. CONCLUSIONS: As a new diagnostic technique in gynecology, elastography appears to be a valuable tool in differentiating malign endometrial pathologies from normal or benign endometrial pathologies in females with abnormal uterine bleeding.