Ultrasound in polycystic ovary syndrome--the measuring of ovarian stroma and relationship with circulating androgens: results of a multicentric study.

Background: The introduction of transvaginal approach in ultrasound (US) has enabled the accurate evaluation of the structure of the ovary and stroma. Stroma represents an acknowledged US marker for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The proportion revealed between the stroma and the ovary surface in the median section (S/A ratio) had been indicated as a reliable marker for hyperandrogenism.

Is the PCOS diagnosis solved by ESHRE/ASRM 2003 consensus or could it include ultrasound examination of the ovarian stroma?

Background: The clinical heterogeneity of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is mirrored by the unceasing debate on the most appropriate diagnostic criteria.

Methods And Results: To highlight differences and inconsistencies between NIH and ESHRE/ASRM criteria, we applied them to 375 patients with oligo/amenorrhoea and signs of hyperandrogenism. Among them, we identified 273 women with PCOS according to NIH, whereas up to 345 patients fulfilled ESHRE/ASRM criteria.

Pituitary-ovarian response to the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone-agonist test in anovulatory patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: predictive role of ovarian stroma.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of ovarian stroma on basal and poststimulus androgen secretion in patients affected by secondary amenorrhoea and polycystic ovaries (PCO) at ultrasound (US).

Design: Prospective study.

Patients: Fifty-one patients with PCO selected from a group of 72 normal weight women aged 20-25 years affected by secondary amenorrhoea and 10 normal ovulatory controls.

Longitudinal metabolic observation of metformin effects during pregnancy in hyperinsulinemic women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a case report.

Obese hyperinsulinemic women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) present a markedly increased risk of developing glycaemic alterations during pregnancy, commonly recognized as a "diabetogenic" condition. This risk seems to be safely reduced by the administration of metformin during gestation. We analyzed the metabolic changes in two hyperinsulinemic PCOS women, who became pregnant after 8 weeks of metformin therapy and continued taking the drug till delivery.

[Diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome].

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorders among women in reproductive age, but diagnostic criteria used in clinical practice are still controversial. In 1990 the National Institute of HEALTH (NIH) conference on PCOS recommended that diagnostic criteria should include biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism and ovarian dysfunction (in the absence of non-classical adrenal hyperplasia) without considering the morphological diagnosis of polycystic ovary by ultrasound as an essential part of the diagnosis. In the Rotterdam PCOS workshop of May 2003, however, PCOS is diagnosed when 2 of the following criteria are recognized: oligomenorrhea and/or anovulation, clinical or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenism, ultrasound findings of polycystic ovary.