Power Doppler Flow Patterns in Cases of Carcinoma

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Ultrasound is the second imaging modality, after the mammography, currently used to evaluate breast lesions in hopes to distinguish benign from malignant solid masses. The Power Doppler sonography allows an assessment of lesion vascularization, stimulating its use to differentiate these kind of lesions. Angiogenesis, defined as the emergence of new vessels to further growth of tumor, is one of the most important features of a carcinoma. Malignant lesions tend to present blood flow more frequently than benign ones. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the power doppler flow patterns in cases of breast carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 119 lesions were accessed with Ultrasound (US) guided core needle biopsy or vacuum assisted biopsy and had histopathologic diagnosis of carcinoma. Lesions were classified into BI-RADS ® 4 and 5 categories. All lesions were evaluated with power doppler. The study included 117 women (age range 26-81 years, mean 59 years). The flow patterns of these lesions were divided into: absent, peripheral, central, or both central and peripheral. RESULTS: This study found that 33 (27, 73%) carcinomas had no flow at power doppler, 35 (29, 41%) had peripheral flow, 22 (18, 48 %) had central flow and 29 (24, 36 %) had both central and peripheral flow. DISCUSSION: in our study Power Doppler found flow patterns in 72, 26% cases of carcinoma, showing that usually malignant lesions presents intense angiogenesis. CONCLUSION: Power doppler can be an important tool to be considered in association with others ultrasound criteria to predict the likelihood of malignancy.