Application of ultrasound contrast agents for the characterization of female urethral vascularization in healthy pre- and postmenopausal volunteers: preliminary report
| Autor: | Stefano Ciciliato, C. Gasparini, Michele Bertolotto, Emanuele Belgrano, Salvatore Siracusano, A. Tiberio, Nikolitsa Lampropoulou, A. Cucchi |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Siracusano, Salvatore, Bertolotto, Michele, Cucchi, A, Lampropoulou, N, Tiberio, A, Gasparini, C, Ciciliato, Stefano, Belgrano, Emanuele |
| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: |
Nephrology
Adult medicine.medical_specialty Urology media_common.quotation_subject premenopause Sulfur Hexafluoride Neovascularization Physiologic Blood volume Contrast agents Female urethra Ultrasound Vascularization Capsules Urethra Reference Values Internal medicine medicine Contrast (vision) Humans Infusions Intravenous Menstrual cycle Phospholipids media_common Aged Ultrasonography business.industry ultrasound Blood flow Middle Aged urethra vascularization Postmenopause postmenopause medicine.anatomical_structure Premenopause Female Radiology business Blood Flow Velocity Follow-Up Studies |
| Zdroj: | European urology. 50(6) |
| ISSN: | 0302-2838 |
| Popis: | Objectives Vascularization of the female urethra is an important factor contributing to the sealing effect responsible for the normal urethral closing system. The aim of this study was to assess whether contrast enhanced ultrasonography can be used to evaluate changes in urethral vascularization between pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods We studied the vascularization of female urethra in 11 healthy premenopausal females during the midfollicular phase of the menstrual cycle and 10 healthy postmenopausal volunteers using ultrasound contrast agents with a 2–5MHz curved-array transducer by a translabial approach. Reperfusion curves were analyzed by a blinded investigator. Ultrasound contrast agents were measured with specifically designed software, and results were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U- test. Results The data suggest that the enhancement characteristics of the urethra were different in pre- and postmenopausal women and that the percent of blood volume and blood flow decreased with age. No changes were observed between pre- and postmenopausal women regarding the velocity of blood flow. Conclusions The study of female urethra vascularization by ultrasound contrast agents is safe, feasible, and noninvasive. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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