Skip to main content

Thin and Thick of the Lining of your uterus.

Image
By
Much discussion in the gyno office is about how thick or thin the lining layer of the uterus should be. Normal measurements have to be considered based on your age, where you are in a menstrual cycle if you still have periods, and what hormonal medication you are on. Other factors such as prior c-sections or surgeries will play a part in this as well. Mulling over the varied colored sage from the garden I am reminded that there are many shades to "normal" when it comes to lining thickness. Experts have published  the newest meta-analysis of studies that looked at normal and abnormal endometrial thickness measurements, and I see many patients who have been told conflicting advice about their lining tissue and they come in to see their gyno and are wondering what to do. Although clinical factors mentioned above were always a consideration, we gynos heavily have relied on the objective measurements and certain cut off points of endometrial thickness when evaluating patients with post-menopausal bleeding. And we used to tell patients that if their endometrial thickness was under 4 mm they were very unlikely to have lining cancer of the uterus, but now the newest information fro across the pond from a large number of research groups is that 4mm endometrial thickness measurement was too thick, and that 3 is a better cut off. Other gynos feel comfortable if your uterine lining in menopause is 5 mm or other. So if you have had an ultrasound in the past couple of years, reconsider the measurements, and see if it is time to get another ultrasound. And for the best advice on measurements, the measurements have to be taken extremely accurately as well! So a retest is reasonable. During the retest we look for fluid in the cavity, ovarian cysts and other conditions such as uterine fibroids. Back to the ultrasound waves ladies, we have to remeasure!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments and questions. WE hope you will buy our book, https://www.gynogab.com/shop This blog is not intended to replace medical care, but is informational only. We hope you will become a follower or visit Womens Health Practice. We offer a variety of unique services including MonaLisa Touch, Coolsculpting, Labiaplasty, and Gynecoloigic Clinical Research Trials. For more information on menopause see

Popular posts from this blog

Passing Your Uterine Lining, Menstrual Period Norms

By
Decidual Cast Periods can be fairly easy, passing some tissue at a time, or off can come the whole lining in one piece called a decidual cast. Generally the lining of the uterus is only 6-8 mm thick at the time of the menstrual period, and it is shed gradually, a few cells at a time. The decidual cast is when the entire lining passes spontaneously.  It's not uncommon, but it usually both uncomfortable, and alarming to some. But us women are designed to have some sort of periods  Or Not? We have to pass tissue each month. Or Not? Are they good for us? Or Not? Do we want them? Or Not? Is this something that is individual? Or Not? It's a complex topic that I will be discussing a lot over my time in this blog. So lets start with basics: How much do we bleed and what are we loosing, and just what was this that the patient passed? And another basic: track your periods, and the Women's Health Practice site http://www.womenshealthpractice.com/media/pdf/menstrual_chart.pdf you...
311 comments
Read more

You Have an IUD: But a Positive Pregnancy Test

By
Fortunately IUD pregnancy failures are rare. But if you have an IUD for contraception, and you get a positive pregnancy test, you probably ask yourself, what next? Well, make your gyno appointment promptly, this is a condition that is not typically an emergency, but it can be and it’s not handled over the phone or on a blog, or through self diagnosis! That being said, some researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas decided to look back at over 4100 women who had IUDs and of those 42 cases who became pregnant in their institution, over about a year period of time, to help understand what these women could expect when they got to their gyno and what actually happened to their pregnancies. Accurate pregnancy diagnosis, pelvic examination, and pelvic ultrasound were the cornerstones of the evaluations. They had very specific ways they looked at their ultrasound to prove there was no pregnancy in the fallopian tube, or partially in the fallopian tube...
199 comments
Read more

Post-Endometrial Ablation Syndrome

By
If you have had an endometrial ablation and have developed symptoms of pelvic pain you might have post endometrial ablation syndrome. What is post-endometrial ablation syndrome? It is a constellation of symptoms due to entrapped blood or tissue within a uterus that has previously undergone an endometrial ablation. We are able to diagnose this at Women's Health Practic e but occasionally other conditions are causing similar symptoms. Other complications of endometrial ablation include pregnancy, risks from pre-existing conditions such as a polyp or fibroid, an infection of the uterus, or a pregnancy. If you have had a tubal ligation then it is possible that the condition could be post-ablation tubal sterilization syndrome. The ablation procedure is designed to destroy all lining tissue, but in fact there is no way to confirm the completeness of the ablation. It is thought that either residual or regrowth of the tissue is producing the symptoms of post-endometrial ablation syndrom...
647 comments
Read more