Color and power Doppler sonography of liver hemangiomas: A dream unfulfilled?

Purpose. The aim of this study was to determine whether color Doppler or po wer Doppler sonography can aid in the diagnosis of hepatic cavernous hemang iomas. Methods. We imaged 25 hepatic cavernous hemangiomas in 17 patients with gra y-scale, color Doppler, and power Doppler sonography. Five malignant lesion s were also imaged in the same manner for reference. Hemangiomas had been p reviously diagnosed by biopsy in 8 patients (15 lesions) and by CT, MRI, an d/or tagged red blood cell scanning in 9 patients (10 lesions). Results. Of the 25 hemangiomas, color or power Doppler imaging showed no in ternal blood flow in 23. Of these 23 lesions, 11 showed a peripheral flow p attern believed to represent flow in displaced blood vessels. This pattern was better visualized with power Doppler imaging in 3 lesions and equally w ell visualized with color and power Doppler imaging in 8 lesions. Two heman giomas that had unusual central fibrosis with large vessels in 1 patient sh owed diffusely increased blood flow on power Doppler study. All 5 malignant lesions showed flow in peripheral vessels, and 1 showed internal vasculari ty as well. Conclusions. Neither color nor power Doppler imaging improved the capabilit y of sonography for making a specific diagnosis of benign hepatic cavernous hemangioma. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.