Ultrasound of gynecologic pathologies

Since the introduction of vaginal transducers and color Doppler ultrasound, there has been renewed interest in evaluating the female pelvis. Several recently published manuscripts presented convincing material that suggests benign and malignant ovarian and uterine pathologies can be distinguished from each other on the basis of their vascularity. Duplex Doppler signals obtained from malignant tumors tend to demonstrate a low resistance pattern with continuous blood flow throughout the cardiac cycle. Benign lesions, in contrast, tend to display a more resistive pattern. The role of ultrasound in pediatric gynecologic conditions has also been nicely summarized in several recent papers. These are also discussed.