Power Doppler imaging of focal lesions of the gastrointestinal tract: comparison with conventional color Doppler imaging.

Abstract

To compare the usefulness of power Doppler imaging and color Doppler imaging in the vascular evaluation of gastrointestinal lesions, 21 patients with focal gastrointestinal tract lesions were examined with both power and color Doppler imaging. Two reviewers blinded to the diagnosis compared intramural vascularity detected by each of these methods. Power Doppler imaging detected flow in 16 patients with nonischemic lesions, whereas color Doppler imaging detected flow in only 11 patients. Neither modality detected flow in three patients with transmural infarction, but only power Doppler imaging detected minimal flow in the two patients with reversible ischemia. Power Doppler imaging improves visualization of intramural gastrointestinal vascularity, increasing the level of confidence in differentiating ischemic from nonischemic lesions.