Doppler study of the uterine artery in patients with copperintrauterine contraceptive device-induced abnormal uterine bleeding

Objective: to evaluate the effect of copper intrauterine device (CIUD) induced abnormal uterine bleeding on uterine artery blood flow using pulsed color Doppler ultrasound.Design: prospective clinical study. Setting: Al-Zahra a teaching hospital. Patients and methods: ninety three women were examined by trans-vaginal color Doppler to detect the pulsatility index(PI) and resistance index(RI) in the uterine arteries. Women were divided into three groups: Group I. Included 31 women using CIUD and abnormal uterinebleeding. Group II. Included 32 women using CIUD with normal cycle. Group III. Was a control group that included 32 women with normal menstrual flow and not using any contraceptive methods. Results: No significant differences in RI and PI were observed between group II and III, the comparism between group I and the other two groups revealed significantly lower mean RI and PI values for group I. Conclusion: This results confirm the hypothesis that there is an increase in the uterine blood flow in women with CIUD- induced abnormal uterine bleeding.