title: Vascular signals from pleura-based lung lesions studied with pulsed Doppler ultrasonography.
abstract: Vascular signals arising from pleura-based lung lesions were studied in 50 patients using pulsed Doppler ultrasonography. Twenty-seven had malignant lesions and 23 benign lesions. In 24/27 of the malignant masses, we observed no Doppler signals: in 2 cases, a low-velocity, turbulent, pulsatile flow was demonstrated; in 1 case pulsed Doppler ultrasonography showed only a low-velocity, continuous flow. In 20/23 of the benign lesions, we found 2 types of Doppler signal waveforms: an irregularly pulsatile, venous-like signal, and a regularly pulsatile, arterial-like waveform. The last 8 patients of our series underwent color Doppler ultrasound examination, which demonstrated the presence of arterial and venous vessels in 4 benign lesions and the absence of blood flow in 4 malignant masses. To our knowledge, we report for the first time the ability of obtaining Doppler signals from a variety of lung lesions. The actual clinical relevance of this application requires further studies.
authors.affiliation: Divisione di Medicina Gen., Ospedale Civile, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Civardi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fornari
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavanna
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Stasi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sbolli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Buscarini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Buscarini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010994:Pleura / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001261:Pulmonary Atelectasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D014463:Ultrasonography