Pelvic veins ultrasound changes after surgical correction in patients with pelvic congestion syndrome

Abstract

Pelvic congestion syndrome is a form of varicose disease, which is considered to be one of the main causes of chronic pelvic pain in women, which is associated with a violation of pelvic veins hemodynamics. Pelvic venous disorders are invisible to clinicians due to the lack of pathognomonic symptoms and manual disease criteria, but it has significant consequences. Today, one of the main diagnostic methods of pelvic venous disorders is a transvaginal US of pelvic veins, including gonadal veins (ovarian veins in women). Thanks to this non-invasive and simple diagnostic method that does not require specific preparation and has no contraindications, we have significant opportunities in diagnosis, as well as in the further evaluation of the postoperative results of surgical correction of pelvic congestion syndrome. The aim of the study was to analyze changes of pelvic veins in patients with pelvic congestion syndrome before and after surgical intervention using the transvaginal US method. Materials and methods. The study included 35 patients which underwent surgical treatment using open surgery and endovascular procedure between April 2019 and February 2022 with pelvic congestion syndrome. All patients underwent transvaginal ultrasound of the pelvic veins before surgery. A control examination was performed after surgical treatment in 4–6 months. The examination was performed on an expert-class ultrasound system “Toshiba Aplio 500” using all international standards for transvaginal examination of pelvic veins to evaluate the changes of illiac, paraovarian, parametrial and ovarian veins from the left side and from the right side in patients with pelvic venous disorders. Conclusions. Transvaginal ultrasound of the pelvic veins can be considered one of the key diagnostic methods, with the help of which it is possible to investigate and evaluate hemodynamic disorders in the veins of the pelvis and pelvic organs in real time. Also, this method can be considered optimal for the control examination of patients who underwent surgical correction of pelvic congestion syndrome.