For anyone who has PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) or had a pelvic ultrasound?

I had my blood work done last week and today I have an appointment for a pelvic ultrasound to look for cysts on my ovaries. What should I expect as I have never had an ultrasound before? Is it like an x-ray where they have to study the images for a week or will they know something as soon as they see it? Just curious. I'm tired of waitng and I want to know if I have PCOS.

On my note the gyno gave me to give the radiologist it says "Pelvic Ultrasound" specifcally. Does that mean they won't do a vaginal?

A pelvic ultrasound visualizes the uterus, the thickness of the endometrial lining of the uterus and both ovaries. There are two ways to do a pelvic ultrasound.....transabdominally or transvaginally.

For a transabdominal u/s, you must have a full bladder to visualize the female reproductive system. The full bladder provides a window for the sound waves, lifts the uterus out of the bony pelvis structures and pushes the bowel up and away from the uterus, as u/s cannot visualize anything through air (the intestines contain air). The ultrasound technologist places some gel on the skin right above your bladder and uses a camera (the transducer) to get images.

For a transvaginal u/s, the urinary bladder must be empty. A small wand (transducer) is covered with a condom and inserted into the vagina in order to get images. It is usually only mildly uncomfortable (think of your pelvic exams with your OB/GYN).

Most facilities will have you show up to your appointment with a full bladder first. If your uterus and ovaries are not seen well, for a variety of reasons, they will continue on to a transvaginal scan. Some facilities always do both transabdominal and transvaginal scans on every pelvic study they do.

You should never have just a transvaginal study. If you had a mass up higher in the pelvis, it could easily be missed on a transvaginal scan. The transvaginal transducers have a limited range of distance, so something distant to the cervix could be missed.

Each of the scans take about 15 minutes. The ultrasound technologist puts the images on film or a computer disk for the radiologist. He studies the images and makes a report, which is then typed up and sent to your referring doctor. Every facility I have worked at has a turn around time of about 24-48 hours on their reports.

they will do a transvaginal ultrasound that they can see right then and there. You should be able to see the monitor as well (at least thats what I had done). It's not painful, just uncomfortable.

Most likely they will perform a vaginal ultrasound, and they will inform you of the results right there. The radiologist may tell you to wait for more definitive results from your OB/GYN but generally they will inform you there.

What to expect:
They will insert a device called a transducer (a small hand-held device that resembles a microphone), into the vaginal area and they will be able to take images of the ovaries.

Nothing to fear, it is a little uncomfortable, but no pain. I was diagnosed with PCOS 7 years ago and have had about 7-8 vaginal ultrasounds.

It dosent take that long to know the results, they usually send them 2 your OB/GYN. Usually when they are looking for a cyst they do both. Hope everything goes well (=