Analysis Of The Common Ultrasound Findings In Patients With Pelvic Pain

This research is aimed at assessing the common ultrasound findings in patient with pelvic pain. A retrospective study was done in Enugu scan centre, Ket, life chart and St.Michael diagnostic centres in Enugu. 1044 patients were scanned for pelvic pain from September 2010 to September 2011. The sonographic report showed that 442(42.34%) had uterine pathologies, 332(31.80%) had ovarian pathologies, 108(10.34%) had colon pathologies, 95(9.10%) had bladder problems and 67(6.42%) had prostate pathologies. It was also found that the incidence of pelvic pain was greater in females than in males.

Title page

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstract

Table of content

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of Study

1.2 Statement of Problem

1.3 Purpose of Study

1.4 Significance of Study

1.5 Scope of Study

1.6 Literature Review

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 

2.0 Introduction

2.1 Principal of Operation

2.2 Type of Ultrasound used

2.3 Indication to Pelvic Ultrasound

2.4 Anatomy of the Pelvis

2.5 Functions of Pelvis

2.6 Pelvic Pain in women

2.7 Pelvic Pain in Men

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Research Methods

3.1 Research Design

3.2 Population Study

3.3 Source of data for the study

3.4 Method of data Collection

3.5 Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

Data Presentation and result

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Discussion

5.1 Summary of Findings

5.2 Limitation of findings

5.3 Recommendation

5.4 Conclusion

5.5 Area for further study

Reference

Pelvic pain is defined as pain that occurs below the umbilicus (belly button) to the lower border of the symphysis pubis. It is not a disease, rather, a symptom that can be caused by several different conditions. It can affect both women and men. The pain may indicate the existence of poorly-understood conditions that likely represent abnormal psychoneuromuscular function. When this pain persists for a period of 3 months or more, it is to be considered chronic while less than this duration is considered acute.  Acute pain is most commonly experienced by patients after surgery or other soft tissue traumas. It tends to be immediate, severe and short lived.  Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) accounts for 10% of all visits to gynecologists. 

 Pelvic pain can be a sign that there is a problem with one of the organs in the pelvic area, such as the uterus, prostate, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix or vagina etc. It could also be a symptom of infection, or a problem with the urinary tract, lower intestines, rectum, muscle or bone.

Ultrasonography or ultrasound (US) is becoming increasingly used as the investigation of choice in many years for pelvic pain diagnosis. Ultrasound (US) is a medical imaging modality that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes to obtain images of tissues, organs etc. [5] pelvic ultrasound is an important diagnostic tool for evaluation of many structures in the pelvis. Some of the indications for pelvic ultrasound includes: pelvic pain, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and suspicion of an abnormality on a manual gynecologic examination. Other diagnostic imaging modalities may also be helpful in identifying the cause(s) of pelvic pain such as magnetic resonance image (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), and Radionuclide image. US modality is relatively inexpensive and portable, especially when compared with other modalities, such as MRI, CT etc.  As currently applied in the medical field, properly performed ultrasound poses no known risks to the patient. US is generally described as a "safe test" because it does not use mutagenic ionizing radiation, which can pose hazards such as chromosome breakage and cancer development, it also causes little or no discomfort to the patient.