Doppler ultrasound: a good and reliable predictor of ovarian malignancy

The aim of the present study was to prove the efficiency of Color Doppler and Spectral Doppler in evaluation and characterization of the ovarian neoplasm.

In total, 104 patients with adnexal masses were examined sonographically to evaluate for morphologic characteristics, as well as pulsatility indices (PI), and resistance indices (RI) over a period of 2 years, of which 20 were excluded as the masses were not finally proven to be adnexal, and thus 84 patients with ovarian neoplasm were retained as the study subjects. The final diagnosis was based on histopathologic confirmation.

Out of 84 cases, 44 were benign and 40 were malignant. Color Doppler showed vascularity in 97.5 % of malignant tumors in contrast to only 68.1 % of benign tumors. The present study showed that, 87.5 % of malignant tumors had PI less than 0.8 in contrast to only 4.54 % of benign tumors. Similarly, 82.5 % of malignant tumors had RI less than 0.6 in contrast to only 6.81 % of benign tumors.

Multiparameter analysis utilizing B-mode USG along with Color Doppler and Spectral Doppler is the mainstay in diagnosis of patients with ovarian tumors. A good specificity (84.1 %) and sensitivity (97.5 %) with PI and RI values of <1.0 and <0.6, respectively, was achieved with the present study which is highly significant in differentiating between malignant and benign ovarian tumours.