Ultrasound image attributes of human ovarian dominant follicles during natural and oral contraceptive cycles
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Ultrasound image attributes of human ovarian dominant follicles during natural and oral contraceptive cycles Rebecca L Birtch, Angela R Baerwald, Olufemi A Olatunbosun and Roger A Pierson* Address: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Email: Rebecca L Birtch - [email protected]; Angela R Baerwald - [email protected]; Olufemi A Olatunbosun - [email protected]; Roger A Pierson* - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 13 April 2005 Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2005, 3:12
doi:10.1186/1477-7827-3-12
Received: 09 February 2005 Accepted: 13 April 2005
This article is available from: http://www.rbej.com/content/3/1/12 © 2005 Birtch et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract Background: Computer-assisted analyses were used to examine ultrasound image attributes of human dominant ovarian follicles that developed during natural and oral contraceptive (OC) cycles. We hypothesized that image attributes of natural cycle follicles would quantitatively differ from those in OC cycles and that OC cycle follicles would possess image attributes indicative of atresia. Methods: Dominant ovarian follicles of 18 clinically normal women were compared using transvaginal ultrasonography for the 7 days before ovulation during a natural cycle (n = 9) or the 7 days before peak estradiol in women using OC (n = 11). Follicles were analyzed using region and line techniques designed to compare the image attributes numerical pixel value (NPV), pixel heterogeneity (PH) and area under the curve (AUC). Results: NPV was higher in OC cycle follicles with region analysis and tended to be higher with line analysis (p = 0.005 and p = 0.06, respectively). No differences were observed in two other image attributes (AUC and PH), measured with either technique, between natural and OC cycle follicles. Conclusion: The increased NPV value of OC cycle follicles and lack of differences in PH and AUC values between natural cycle and OC cycle follicles did not support the hypothesis that OC cycle follicles would show ultrasonographically detectable signs of atresia. Image attributes observed in OC cycle follicles were not clearly indicative of atresia nor were they large enough to preclude preovulatory physiologic status in OC cycle follicles.
Background Diagnostic gray-scale ultrasonography has revolutionized the study of ovarian biology in animals and humans because it allows researchers and clinicians to assess the development of individual follicles in a direct, non-invasive, and atraumatic manner without interruption or dis-
tortion of ovarian function. Prior to the introduction of ultrasonograph
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