UTERINE SARCOMA - A REPORT OF 10 CASES STUDIED BY TRANSVAGINAL COLOR AND PULSED DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY

Objective: To evaluate the role of transvaginal color Doppler in diffe rentiating uterine sarcoma from myoma. Study design: A group of 2010 w omen were examined by transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography 1 day before planned hysterectomy. Ten cases with uterine sarcoma were anal yzed with respect to their color Doppler sonographic patterns and comp ared with 150 normal and 1850 myomatous uteri. Analysis of variance wa s used to test the significance among the subgroups. Results: All case s of uterine sarcoma (100%) revealed abnormal tumoral blood vessels. T he mean resistance index CRI) of these vessels was 0.37 +/- 0.03, rang ing from 0.32 to 0.42, which is statistically significantly lower than that of the normal and myomatous (P < 0.001) uteri. There was no sign ificant difference between RI in the right and left uterine arteries i n each separate group; however, there was a decline in these values fr om normal, through myomatous, to sarcomatous uteri. Using a cutoff poi nt of 0.40 for RI we were able to distinguish between benign and malig nant myometrial tumors with a sensitivity of 90.91%, specificity of 99 .82%, positive predictive value of 71.43%, and negative predictive val ue of 99.96%. Conclusion: Color Doppler sonography has the potential t o distinguish uterine sarcoma from benign uterine lesions. (C) 1995 Ac ademic Press, Inc.