PREDICTION OF MALIGNANCY USING TRANSVAGINAL COLOR-FLOW DOPPLER IN PATIENTS WITH GYNECOLOGIC TUMORS

Eighty-five patients referred to the Women's Cancer Center, University of Minnesota had transvaginal color flow Doppler performed to determi ne if pelvic malignancy could be predicted by blood flow assessment. T heir mean age was 49 years (range 21-86 years). Thirty-five patients w ere subsequently found to have malignant tumors of the cervix, uterus or ovary. The presence of increased intratumoral blood flow as depicte d by color flow Doppler had a sensitivity of 83%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 89% for malignancy. The mean intratumoral Pulsatility Index (PI) of the patients with malignant tumors was 0.81 (SD 0.24; range 0. 3-1.2), which was significantly lower than for the benign group (P = 0 .001). A PI of less-than-or-equal-to 1.0 had a sensitivity of 96.3 %, specificity of 94.3%, PPV of 89.7% and NPV of 98% for predicting malig nancy. Transvaginal color flow Doppler shows promise as a method of pr edicting malignancy in patients with gynecologic pathology.