Significance of pelvic ultrasonographic examinations in girls with pubertal precocity and premature thelarche before and after GnRH-analogues treatment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ovarian volume and the number of follicles before and after GnRH analogues therapy in girls with previous diagnosis of precocious puberty or thelarche. We collected data from all the girls afferent to the Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Clinic of Pediatrics in the University Hospital of Udine (Italy) between 2005 and 2009. 85 girls with a diagnosis of precocious puberty or thelarche were analyzed. We treated 29 of these with GnRH analogues (34.12%), and they were monitored by pelvic ultrasonography before and at a median of 14 months (IQR 5-29) after the beginning of the therapy. Pelvic ultrasonography was performed by two operators. The girls with precocious puberty have a median age of 8 years (IQR 7-9). In the 29 cases treated with GnRH analogues, they presented, after the treatment, a trend to decrease the ovarian volume, but this is not statistically significant (Wilcoxon test: p n.s.). If we consider the observed follicles in the right and left ovaries during the first and the second ultrasonography, we can observe a decreased number of follicles in the follow up, but this is not statistically significant (Chi-square test p n.s.). In our study, we observed a trend in ovarian volume reduction and a decreased number of follicles after GnRH analogues therapy but without statistical significance.