BREAST MASSES - COLOR DOPPLER, POWER DOPPLER, AND SPECTRAL-ANALYSIS FINDINGS

Purpose. To determine the diagnostic efficacy of power Doppler sonogra phy (PDS) with spectral analysis for breast diseases, we retrospective ly compared PDS and color Doppler sonography (CDS) in patients with br east lesions. Methods. One hundred thirty-eight women with palpable br east lesions were examined with PDS (65 women) and/or CDS (73 women). We calculated peak velocity, end-diastolic velocity, pulsatility index (PI), and resistance index (RI). Results. On a 4-point subjective vis ual vascularity scale, PDS demonstrated higher vascularity than did CD S. Although smaller and more subtle vessels could be detected only wit h PDS, the PI and RI differed significantly between malignant and beni gn lesions when either PDS or CDS was used. However, logistic regressi on analysis showed that high PI and RI were associated with malignancy only when CDS was used. When PDS was used, PI was significantly highe r in invasive ductal carcinomas with fibrous stroma and ill-defined ma rgins (associated with a poor prognosis) than in invasive ductal carci nomas without fibrous stroma or with well-defined margins. Conclusions . Doppler spectral analysis of malignant breast lesions using PDS may contribute to the determination of prognosis. (C) 1998 John Wiley & So ns, Inc.