What does a low echogenic mass in the uterus mean?

Uterine diseases are not unfamiliar to women, because even if they do not suffer from it, their mothers, relatives, elders, and friends may also be troubled by such diseases. There are many types of uterine diseases, including uterine inflammation, uterine fibroids, uterine prolapse, etc., all of which will affect the patient's quality of life. So what does a low-echo mass in the uterus mean during an examination?

Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumors in the female reproductive organs and one of the most common tumors in the human body. They are also called fibroids and uterine fibroids. Since uterine fibroids are mainly formed by the proliferation of uterine smooth muscle cells, with a small amount of fibrous connective tissue existing as a supporting tissue, it is more accurate to call them uterine leiomyomas. Referred to as uterine fibroids.

Causes

The cause of uterine fibroids is still not very clear, and may involve a more complex interaction between normal muscle layer cell mutations, sex hormones and local growth factors.

A large number of clinical observations and experimental results indicate that uterine fibroids are a hormone-dependent tumor. Estrogen is the main factor that promotes the growth of fibroids. Some scholars also believe that growth hormone (GH) is also related to the growth of fibroids. GH can cooperate with estrogen to promote mitosis and promote the growth of fibroids. It is speculated that human placental lactogen (HPL) can also cooperate with estrogen to promote mitosis. It is believed that the accelerated growth of uterine fibroids during pregnancy is related to the high hormone environment during pregnancy, and HPL may also play a role.

In addition, ovarian function and hormone metabolism are controlled and regulated by higher nerve centers, so the activity of nerve centers may also play an important role in the occurrence of fibroids. Uterine fibroids are more common in women of childbearing age, widows, and those with disharmonious sexual lives. Chronic pelvic congestion caused by long-term sexual dysfunction may also be one of the causes of uterine fibroids.

In short, the occurrence and development of uterine fibroids may be the result of the combined action of multiple factors.

Clinical manifestations

1. Symptoms

Most patients are asymptomatic and the disease is only discovered occasionally during pelvic examination or ultrasound. If there are symptoms, they are closely related to the location, speed, degeneration and complications of the tumor growth, but have relatively little to do with the size and number of the tumor. People with multiple subserosal fibroids may not have symptoms, but a small submucosal fibroid can often cause irregular vaginal bleeding or menorrhagia. Common clinical symptoms include:

(1) Uterine bleeding

It is the most important symptom of uterine fibroids, occurring in more than half of the patients. Among them, cyclical bleeding is the most common, which can manifest as increased menstrual volume, prolonged menstrual period or shortened cycle. It may also present as irregular vaginal bleeding that is not related to the menstrual cycle. Uterine bleeding is more common with submucosal fibroids and intramural fibroids, while subserosal fibroids rarely cause uterine bleeding.

(2) Abdominal mass and compression symptoms

The fibroids grow gradually, and when they cause the uterus to enlarge beyond the size of a 3-month pregnant uterus or become a larger subserosal fibroid located at the fundus of the uterus, a mass can often be felt in the abdomen, which is more obvious in the early morning when the bladder is full. The mass was solid, movable, and non-tender. When the fibroids grow to a certain size, they can cause compression symptoms of surrounding organs. Fibroids on the anterior wall of the uterus close to the bladder can cause frequent urination and urgency; giant cervical fibroids compressing the bladder can cause difficulty in urination or even urinary retention; fibroids on the posterior wall of the uterus, especially those in the isthmus or posterior lip of the cervix, can compress the rectum, causing difficulty in defecation and discomfort after defecation; giant broad ligament fibroids can compress the ureter and even cause hydronephrosis.