Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 14, Issue 7 523-528, Copyright © 1995 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Color Doppler sonography of adnexal torsion
A. C. Fleischer, S. M. Stein, J. A. Cullinan and M. A. Warner
Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2675, USA.
The purpose of this study was to describe the color Doppler sonographic
findings in adnexal torsion that distinguish viable from nonviable ovaries.
We present the color Doppler sonographic features in 13 patients with
surgically proved adnexal torsion that help determine whether or not the
ovaries were viable or nonviable at the time of surgery. Eleven combined
ovarian and tubal torsions and two isolated tubal torsions were studied. In
10 cases the ovaries were considered nonviable at the time of surgery and
in three cases they were considered viable. Of the nonviable group, six
showed absent arterial and venous flow centrally, but two had low velocity
(< 5 cm/s) arterial flow peripherally in the region of the adnexal
branch of the uterine artery or in the main ovarian artery, and two
demonstrated absent or reversed diastolic arterial flow. None of the
nonviable ovaries showed venous flow centrally. In contrast, all of the
viable ovaries demonstrated venous flow centrally, and two had peripheral
and central arterial flow. Although the CDS findings in adnexal torsion are
variable, ovarian viability may be predicted if central venous flow is
present.
