New pelvic sonoangiography for detection of endometrial carcinoma: a preliminary report

Pelvic sonoangiography (PSAG) using transvaginal color Doppler was done on 16 postmenopausal patients with abnormal uterine bleeding. Seven women had no endometrial carcinoma and nine had carcinoma. No flow was detected around and within the endometrium in noncancer patients. PSAG showed a feeder artery (blood flow with pulsation that runs into and clings to the tumor) in all patients with endometrial carcinoma, and intratumor blood flow (a mixture of pulsating and constant flow within the tumor) was evident in 7 of 9 patients with endometrial carcinoma. These findings were confirmed by conventional pelvic angiography. In the diagnostic evaluation of PSAG for endometrial carcinoma, both sensitivity and specificity were 100%. We conclude that PSAG with transvaginal color Doppler can be used to detect endometrial carcinoma in postmenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding and that this method might be applicable to selecting patients who really require diagnostic surgery for endometrial cancer.