Combining imaging and vascularity assessment of breast lesions

Two separate series of patients were investigated to determine the improvement in diagnostic accuracy obtained by combining the results of ultrasonic imaging and vascularity assessment for the detection and diagnosis of breast disease. In the first series, ninety-five patients were examined with a hand-held Doppler probe to verify that abnormal flow could be detected in the presence of breast disease. To determine the clinical efficacy of combining the two examination procedures, a second series of patients was examined with the Doppler transducers incorporated into the water-bath scanner so that the sample volume could be accurately positioned into specific regions previously imaged. In the one hundred patients examined with both procedures, there was an improvement in the accuracy of diagnosing breast disease due to the reduction in the number of false positive and negative reports compared to the accuracy of the imaging examination alone.