THE ROLE OF DUPLEX AND COLOR DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY IN THE EVALUATION OF OVARIAN MASSES

Abstract

Ovarian carcinoma is characterized by a lack of symptoms in the early stages, which leads to late diagnosis and consequently a poor prognosis. The use of non invasive imaging techniques has improved significantly on the diagnostic accuracy of bimanual physical examination for early detection of ovarian masses.

The aim of our study is to evaluate the role of duplex-color Doppler sonography in discrimination between beningn and malignant ovarian masses and the reliability of its combination with gray scale morphological scoring system.

Forty female patients were examined both with gray scale real time and duplex- color Doppler sonography, their ages ranged between 17 and 68 years. Most of the patients presented with lower abdominal pain.

Among the examined patients, 28 cases had benign ovarian masses and 12 cases had malignant ovarian masses.

The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological• examination in 36 masses, while 4 cases were resolved on ultrasonographic follow up and considered to be benign masses.