| Author/Editor | Takač, Iztok; Arko, Darja; Gorišek, Borut | |
| Title | Color Doppler ultrasound investigation of ovarian tumors | |
| Translated title | Pretraga tomora jajnika pomoću obojenog Doplerovog ultrazvuka | |
| Type | članek | |
| Source | Gynaecol Perinatol | |
| Vol. and No. | Letnik 5, št. 3 | |
| Publication year | 1996 | |
| Volume | str. 95-9 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Abstract | The aim of the study was to determine the accuracy of color Doppler ultrasound in distinguishing between benign and malignant ovarian tumors. Prior to operation, pulsed color Doppler examination was performed in 40 patients with benign, 40 with pseudo- and 40 with malignant ovarian tumors. Vascularization of the tumors as well as their adjacent surroundings and blood vessel location were studied using color coded Doppler frequency shift analysis. Spectral analysis was used to study vascular blood flow, expressed by the pulsatility index (PI). Vascularization was equally frequent in all three groups of tumors. Only in rare tumors vascularization was absent. Blood vessels of benign and pseudotumors had more often a tumor-adjacent or peripheral intratumoral location while malignant tumor vessels exhibited more often a diffuse, intratumoral location while malignant tumor vessels exhibited more often a diffuse, intraseptal or intraproliferative location. PI values of benign and pseudotumors were significantly higher than those of malignant tumors. The mean value of PI+-SD was 1.2+-0.7 in benign, 1.2+-0.6 in pseudotumors and 0.6+-0.4 in malignant tumors. The differences in PI between benign and malignant tumors as well as between pseudotumors and malignant tumors are statistically significant (p<0.01). In detecting malignant ovarian tumors, the sensitivity of PI<0.5 is 74%, its specificity 99%, positive predictive value 97%, negative predictive value 89% and accuracy 91%. Color Doppler ultrasound is an additional diagnostic method for distinguishing different ovarian tumors. Analysis of the vascularization presence and blood vessel arrangement in the tumor as well as measured PI<0.5 allows us to predict the presence of malignency with limited reliability. | |
| Descriptors | OVARIAN NEOPLASMS ULTRASONOGRAPHY, DOPPLER, COLOR |