To assess the diagnostic value of transvaginal ultrasound combined with saline-infusion sonoPODography (SPG) in peritoneal endometriosis to provide a new diagnostic method for early endometriosis.

Fifty patients with dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, dyspareunia, and infertility who required laparoscopic surgery or treatment were selected as the research subjects at Huaian Maternal and Child Health Hospital from March to September 2022. All patients received routine transvaginal ultrasound and SPG examination, and were finally diagnosed by laparoscopy and histopathology. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of transvaginal ultrasound and SPG in the diagnosis of peritoneal endometriosis were analyzed statistically by χ² test.

Of the 50 patients included, 38 were confirmed as having peritoneal endometriosis by pathological examination after laparoscopic surgery. Fifteen cases were diagnosed with peritoneal endometriosis by conventional transvaginal ultrasonography, and 35 were diagnosed with peritoneal endometriosis by transvaginal ultrasound combined with SPG. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of routine transvaginal ultrasonography for the diagnosis of peritoneal endometriosis were 40.00% (20/50), 39.47% (15/38), 41.67% (5/12), 68.18% (15/22), and 17.86% (5/28), respectively; the corresponding values of SPG were 84.00% (42/50), 92.11% (35/38), 58.33% (7/12), 87.50% (35/40), and 70.00% (7/10). The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of SPG in the detection of peritoneal endometriosis were all significantly higher than those of conventional transvaginal ultrasound (χ²=6.518, 27.109, 0.114, 0.860, and 1.656; P=0.013, 0.006, 0.042, 0.035, and 0.029, respectively).

SPG is a safe and effective method for the diagnosis of peritoneal endometriosis.