THE 3D AND 2D COLOR-FLOW DISPLAY OF BREAST MASSES

A prospective study was performed in 24 women with breast masses on ma mmography going on to surgical biopsy, 2D and 3D power mode and freque ncy shift color flow Doppler scanning and display were compared. Vesse ls were displayed as rotatable color volumes in 3D, superimposed on gr ay-scale slices. The latter were stepped sequentially through the imag ed volume. Radiologists rated the masses in each display (3D, 2D and v ideotapes) on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 = most suspicious) for each of six conventional gray-scale and six new vascular criteria. Thirteen masses proved to be benign and 11 were malignant. 3D provided a stronger sub jective appreciation of vascular morphology and allowed somewhat bette r ultrasound discrimination of malignant masses than did the 2D images or videotapes (specificities of 85%, 79% and 71%, respectively, at a sensitivity of 90%). Only in 3D did the vascularity measures display a trend towards significance in this small study. (C) 1997 World Federa tion for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.