COMPARISON OF COLOR DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY AND RADIONUCLIDE IMAGING IN DIFFERENT DEGREES OF TORSION IN RABBIT TESTES

Rationale and Objectives. We compared color Doppler sonography and rad ionuclide imaging in an animal model of variable torsion of the testes . Methods. The testes of 19 rabbits with unilateral 0 degrees(nontorsi on), 180 degrees, 360 degrees, or 540 degrees torsion and contralatera l nontorsion were evaluated by sonography serially over 24 hr. Color D oppler sonography and radionuclide imaging at 24 hr were compared and correlated with pathology in a subset of testes. Results. Nontorsion ( n = 16 testes) and 540 degrees torsion (n = 7 testes) were always corr ectly diagnosed at 24 hr by color Doppler sonography and radionuclide imaging. Torsion at 180 degrees(n = 2) was indistinguishable from nont orsion. With 360 degrees torsion (n = 6 testes), four testes had reduc ed or absent flow with color Doppler sonography, whereas only one test is was abnormal with radionuclide imaging. Conclusion. Nontorsion and extreme torsion of rabbit testes are well documented by radionuclide i maging and color Doppler sonography. Torsion at 360 degrees can result in variable flow alterations that are better detected by color Dopple r sonography than by radionuclide imaging.