Sensitivity and specificity of dilation and curettage for diagnosis of abnormal uterine bleeding

Abstract

Background: Abnormal uterine Bleeding (AUB) is one of the most common gynecological disorders. Dilatation and curettage is a diagnostic procedure in the management of AUB. Definite treatments such as hysterectomy may be applied based on the results of dilatation and curettage. This study was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of dilatation and curettage. Materials and methods: Histopathological results of the specimens that were obtained from dilatation and curettage, were compared to hysterectomy. 85 patients were enrolled in this descriptive study from 2002 to 2004 (3 year period), patients were admitted in Besat hospital of Sanandaj. Data was obtained from pathologic study of dilatation and curettage specimens and hysterectomy. Data was analyzed with SPSS software. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 47.25 year, the lowest age was 28 and the highest was 78 year old. 75.3 percent of the patients were lived in rural area and 70.6 percent had not have education. 96.6 percent of the study group has had more than 3 pregnancies. Tubal ligation was the most common contraception method in our patients. Sensitivity of dilatation and curettage for diagnosis of AUB was 78.1 and specificity was 79.16. Conclusion: The result of our study suggested that, dilatation and curettage is a safe an inexpensive method for diagnosis of abnormal uterine bleeding.