Amenorrhea and Abnormal Uterine Bleeding

Amenorrhea and Abnormal Uterine Bleeding

Amenorrhea (the  absence  of  menstruation)  andA abnormal uterine bleeding are the most commongynecologic disorders of reproductive-age women. Amenorrhea and abnormal uterine bleeding are discussed as separate topics. However, the pathophysiol-ogy underlying amenorrhea and abnormal uterine bleeding is often the same.

Abnormal uterine bleeding is a difference in fre-quency, duration, and amount of menstrual bleeding (Box 35.1). A logical approach to terminology is to sepa-rate abnormal bleeding into two broad categories: abnormal bleeding associated with ovulatory cycles, which usually have organic causes; and bleeding due to anovula-tory causes, which is usually diagnosed through exclusion based on history.