2-DIMENSIONAL AND 3-DIMENSIONAL POWER DOPPLER SONOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF VASCULAR PATTERNS IN CERVICAL LYMPHADENOPATHIES

Vascular patterns may reflect some pathologic behaviors of tumors and lymph nodes. Power Doppler ultrasonography, with improved sensitivity and better noise contrast, were used to depict vasculature in 289 case s of cervical lymphadenopathy. Four patterns of vasculature, in additi on to avascular nodes, were classified. Benign lymphadenopathies repre sented 89% and 83% of avascular and hilar type nodes, respectively How ever, malignant lymphadenopathies dominated in nodes that were of spot ted (72%), peripheral (60%), and mixed type (80%). Correlation between nodal sizes and chronologic changes of vascular patterns in malignant lymphadenopathies implied a reasonable classification. Three-dimensio nal power angiography, with the advantage of less plane-sampling bias, was further used to validate our classification.