Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 19, Issue 9 645-649, Copyright © 2000 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Contribution of color Doppler flow to the ultrasonographic diagnosis of tubal abnormalities

Y. Zalel, D. Soriano, S. Lipitz, S. Mashiach and R. Achiron
Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.

Our objective was to characterize tubal abnormalities with color Doppler ultrasonography. We evaluated 25 women with adnexal masses suggestive of tubal masses using gray scale sonography. Color Doppler flow was added to further characterize the adnexal lesion. Of 18 women diagnosed as having hydrosalpinx, in 6 cases the diagnosis was tuboovarian abscess and in 1 case the diagnosis was tubal torsion. In the periphery of the hydrosalpinx, color Doppler flow revealed a mean resistive index of 0.752 +/- 0.04. In the periphery of the tuboovarian abscess, an abundant flow with reduced resistance to flow (mean resistive index = 0.448 +/- 0.04) was seen. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). In the case of adnexal torsion, no blood flow was detected in the lesion. All cases but one were confirmed in either laparoscopy or laparotomy or during colpotomy and drainage of the abscess. For adnexal masses suggestive of tubal lesions, color Doppler flow can further characterize the masses by detecting a significantly richer and low resistant blood flow in cases of tuboovarian abscess in comparison to hydrosalpinx.

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