The Effectiveness of Power Doppler Ultrasonography in Assessment of Ovarian Tumor-Preliminary Study

Na, Jun Hee; Lee, Sang Soo; Kim, Yong Man; Choi, Hyo Kyeong; Cho, Kyoung Sik; Kim, Young Tak; Nam, Joo Hyun; Mok, Jung Eun

Abstract

Recently, a method of color Doppler sonography has been described that is based onestimation the integrated Doppler power spectrum which is represented as "Power Doppler"ultrasonography. Several potential advantages of Power Doppler ultasonography overconventional color Doppler ultrasonography include that noise is represented in uniform patternin power mode, the relative angle independence and abscence of aliasing effect. It appearsto be a potentially useful particularly for evaluating slow flow in parts of the body wherethe signal is weak because blood vessels are small or deep. This could be applied to theevaluation of the flow in the ovarian tumors. And it is believed that the analysis of bloodflow characteristics as well as angiogenesis location and the amount and arrangement ofmicrovascular network may help in distinguishing malignant versus benign tumors.We will represent a preliminary report to demonstrate a efficacy of power Dopplerultrasonography in the detection of ovarian tumor vascularity. Thirty-one patients with ovarianmasses were prospectively evaluated with power and conventional color Dopplersonography using 7.0 MHz endovaginal probe or 3.0 MHz transabdominal probe with a pulserepetition frequency of 700 Hz. The evaluation criteria were the detection of vasculature,the arterial waveform analysis if possible, and defining the vascular location. With conventionalcolor Doppler sonography, the vascularity within the ovarian tumors could be detectedin 74.2% of total patients, and 90.3% of total patients with power Doppler sonography,Doppler waveform analysis was possible in 83.9% of total patients with power Dopplersonography and in 71.0% at conventional color Doppler sonography. The vascular patternswithin each parts(solid area, septum, pericystic) of the ovarian tumors were relatively welldefined with power Doppler sonography as compare to those with conventional color Dopplersonography.In conclusion, power Doppler ultrasonography was shown to be superior to conventionalcolor Doppler ultrasonography in the depiction of ovarian intratumoral vasculature.