Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 14, Issue 5 377-380, Copyright © 1995 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Transvaginal Doppler examination for the differential diagnosis of solid pelvic tumors
P. Sladkevicius, L. Valentin and K. Marsal
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital MAS, Malmo, Sweden.
To evaluate the ability of transvaginal Doppler examination to discriminate
between different types of solid pelvic tumors, 55 women scheduled for
laparotomy because of a solid pelvic mass underwent transvaginal
sonographic examination, including color and spectral Doppler techniques.
Arteries in the wall and core of each mass were examined. The histological
diagnoses were as follows: uterine myoma (n = 28), malignant ovarian tumor
(n = 19), and benign ovarian tumor (n = 8). Pulsatility index values tended
to be highest in the malignant ovarian tumors, albeit with considerable
overlap with respect to the other tumor types. The respective median
pulsatility index values for arteries in the wall and core of the malignant
ovarian tumors were 0.93 and 0.87, versus 0.65 and 0.51 in the benign
ovarian tumors and 0.80 and 0.67 in the myomas. Time-averaged maximum
velocity did not differ significantly among the three types of tumor. We
conclude that Doppler measurement of blood flow velocity in tumor arteries
does not add substantial information to the differential diagnosis between
myomas and benign or malignant solid ovarian tumors.
