Measurement of menstrual blood loss in patients complaining of menorrhagia.

A study has been made of menstrual blood loss measured in 50 women with unexplained heavy loss (more than 80 ml). Twelve of these women had an average menstrual loss greater than 200 ml, five women in excess of 450 ml. There was no relation between the duration of menstruation and the total menstrual blood loss. Compared to women with normal menstrual loss there was no difference either in the proportion of total menstrual loss passed on each day of menstruation in women bleeding heavily (92 per cent of the total menses being lost in the first three days) or in the coefficient of variation for menstrual blood loss from one period to the next. There was a reduction in menstrual blood loss in the first period following uterine curettage but no effect thereafter.