title: Automated quantification of color Doppler signals: a preliminary study in breast tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify color Doppler (CD) signals reflected by breast lesions to improve differential diagnosis and serial comparisons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Frame-grabbed color-capture scans were remapped to original velocities on a pixel-by-pixel basis for statistical analysis. Total CD area and its percentage, peak and mean velocities, standard deviation of velocity, and integral CD velocity and its percentage were calculated. These indexes were applied to scans of 44 cancers, 16 fibroadenomas, and 14 benign breast changes in 74 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the region of interest confined to the lesion and a 5-mm margin, no CD signals were reflected by the benign breast changes. All carcinomas and 12 fibroadenomas (those that were vascular) reflected CD signals, and, except for mean and peak velocity, all scores for cancers were significantly higher than for fibroadenomas (P < .0001). Integral CD velocity was the best discriminator, with no overlap between carcinomas (range, 1,128-50,228 cm3/sec) and fibroadenomas (range, 0-1,027 cm3/sec).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Automatic CD quantification improved differential diagnosis of breast masses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, England.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Kedar
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Cosgrove
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bamber
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D018226:Fibroadenoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005348:Fibrocystic Breast Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color