Kornelija Burbaitė¹, Justinas Perminas¹, Kornelija Galinauskaitė¹

¹Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Medical Academy, Faculty of Medicine

Abstract

Introduction. Endometritis is an inflammation of the lining of the uterus that often occurs in women after giving birth. Endometritis does not have any specific signs and symptoms and is therefore difficult to diagnose. Endometritis is diagnosed only by evaluating clinical signs. Radiological diagnostical methods can only be used as additional techniques to visualize changes in the uterine cavity. However, treatment prescribed on the time can be helpful to avoid severe complications.

Aim: to review and analyze the information provided in the literature on the etiology of endometritis, clinical symptoms and radiological diagnostic methods.

Methodology: for literature sources we were searched in computer bibliographic databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Medline and Cochrane Library. The search was performed using keywords and their combinations: endometritis, diagnostics, complications, ultrasound and computed tomography. More than 20 publications on this topic have been reviewed.

Results: endometritis is the most common cause of postpartum fever and is almost always diagnosed clinically. Radiological examination methods can be used only as diagnostic aids. No specific findings are found by radiological examination methods, so it is only possible to link clinical symptoms to radiological examination images in order to diagnose the disease more quickly and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Conclusions: 1) Methods of radiological examination can additionally be used for diagnosing this disease.  2) Ultrasound examination is a first due to easy accessibility. 3) Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are used only in complicated cases. 4) Endometritis can cause severe complications if it is not diagnosed and treated timely.

Keywords: endometritis, ultrasound, computed tomography.