Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 13, Issue 11 835-840, Copyright © 1994 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Gray scale and color flow Doppler characterization of uterine tumors
J. R. Carter, M. Lau, A. K. Saltzman, E. M. Hartenbach, M. D. Chen, P. R. Johnson, J. M. Fowler, J. W. Carlson, L. F. Carson and L. B. Twiggs
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
The aim of this study was to investigate gray scale and color flow
characteristics of a group of patients with a suspected uterine pathologic
condition. One hundred and twenty-two consecutive patients at the Women's
Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, undergoing transvaginal sonography
and color flow Doppler imaging for suspected uterine corpus abnormality
made up the study group. After gray scale morphologic assessment, color
flow Doppler imaging of the tumor and uterus was performed, including the
ipsilateral uterine artery. Malignant tumors were confirmed pathologically
in all 35 patients who had them. In comparing patients with benign versus
malignant tumors, gray scale morphologic assessment confirmed that
malignant uterine tumors (31 endometrial cancers and four sarcomas) were
more likely to have a thickened echoic endometrium (P = < 0.0001), be
enlarged (P = 0.004), to be retroverted (P = 0.02), and to lack a
subendometrial halo (P < 0.0001). Patients with four benign and 13
malignant tumors demonstrated increased flow when assessed by CFD. The
calculated sensitivity of increased color flow in predicting malignancy was
39%, with a specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value of 77%, and a
negative predictive value of 71%. No difference existed between the benign
and malignant groups for the systolic, diastolic, and mean velocities and
for the calculated pulsatility index and resistive index in both sampled
uterine and intramyometrial or tumor vessels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250
WORDS)
