Clinical Usefulness of Pelvic Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Precocious Puberty

Abstract

Objective: Precocious puberty is the adrenarche that occurs before the age of 8 in girls. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test (GnRH stimulation test), which is widely used in diagnosing precocious puberty, is commonly used to evaluate the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis, but it has the disadvantages of low sensitivity and laborious blood sampling process. On the other hand, pelvic ultrasonography has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to test. The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of pelvic ultrasonography for the diagnosis of precocious puberty and whether there is a significant relationship between the GnRH stimulation test and ultrasonography findings.Methods: From January 2016 to September 2021, a total of 234 girls with precocious puberty who visited the Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital were subjected to pelvic ultrasonography.Results: The size of both ovaries in the group with a peak luteinizing hormone (LH) value of 10 IU/L or higher in the GnRH stimulation test was significantly larger than that of the group with a peak LH value of less than 7 IU/L. A group with a peak LH value of 10 IU/L or higher in the GnRH stimulation test had 0.63 cm and 0.9 cm significantly larger uterus size than that of the other two groups.Conclusion: Uterus and ovary sizes have a positive correlation with peak LH values in the GnRH stimulation test. Pelvic ultrasonography is considered to be a useful test for estimating precocious puberty without causing much discomfort to the child.