AUTOMATED QUANTIFICATION OF COLOR DOPPLER SIGNALS - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY IN BREAST-TUMORS

PURPOSE: To quantify color Doppler (CD) signals reflected by breast le sions to improve differential diagnosis and serial comparisons. MATERI ALS AND METHODS: Frame-grabbed color-capture scans were remapped to or iginal velocities on a pixel-by-pixel basis for statistical analysis. Total CD area and its percentage, peak and mean velocities, standard d eviation of velocity, and integral CD velocity and its percentage were calculated. These indexes were applied to scans of 44 cancers, 16 fib roadenomas, and 14 benign breast changes in 74 patients. RESULTS: With the region of interest confined to the lesion and a 5-mm margin, no C D signals were reflected by the benign breast changes. Al carcinomas a nd 12 fibroadenomas (those that were vascular) reflected CD signals, a nd, except for mean and peak velocity, all scores for cancers were sig nificantly higher than for fibroadenomas (P < .0001). Integral CD velo city was the best discriminator, with no overlap between carcinomas (r ange, 1,128-50,228 cm(3)/sec) and fibroadenomas (range, 0-1,027 cm(3)/ sec). CONCLUSION: Automatic CD quantification improved differential di agnosis of breast masses.