Evaluation of breast lesions by power Doppler sonography

The aim of this study was to determine the value of power Doppler sonograph y in the detection of tumor vascularity in breast lesions and to find new d iagnostic criteria for differential diagnosis. Power Doppler sonography was prospectively performed in 102 patients with 118 histologic (n = 116) and cytologic (n = 2) results. A semisubjective scoring system for the intratum oral increase in blood flow compared with the flow in normal breast parench yma (reference structure) was introduced and the flow pattern registered. T he difference in the flow increase for benign and malignant breast disease was highly significant (p less than or equal to 0.0001). This applied espec ially to invasive cancer above a maximum tumor diameter of 5 mm excluding c ancer stage Tis and Tla. A positive correlation be tween cancer size and fl ow increase were found. The flow pattern was an additional feature. The sen sitivity was calculated to be between 74.5 and 78.8 %, and the specificity between 74.6 and 77.8 %. The level of flow increase in Power Doppler sonogr aphy is an important feature in the differential diagnosis of breast lesion s and should be considered together with the established criteria in B-mode ultrasound. The flow pattern might also add some important information.