Color Doppler ultrasonography for evaluation of internal mammary artery application in adolescent female patients with right-convex thoracic idiopathic scoliosis.
METHODS
Prospective comparative study.


OBJECTIVE
To establish the use of Color Doppler Ultrasonography to investigate internal mammary artery.


BACKGROUND
Breast asymmetry in female adolescents with right convex idiopathic scoliosis was supposed to be linked with anatomic and functional asymmetry of the internal mammary artery that is the main supplier to the mammary gland. However, no measurements of anatomic and hemodynamic parameters of internal mammary artery have been made to justify or to reject the hypothesis of asymmetric blood flow volume to the breasts and costosternal junction in female adolescent scoliotics. Color Doppler Ultrasonography is a well established noninvasive method to assess vessel anatomy and hemodynamics.


METHODS
Twenty female adolescents with right thoracic scoliosis and 16 comparable female individuals without spine deformity were examined with Color Doppler Ultrasonography to measure at the origin of internal mammary artery lumen diameter, cross sectional area, time average mean flow and flow volume per minute and were compared each other.


RESULTS
The reliability of Color Doppler Ultrasonography was high and the intraobserver variability low (ANOVA, P = 0.92-0.94). There was no statistically significant difference in the ultrasonographic parameters of the internal mammary artery between right and left side in each individual as well as between scoliotics and controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Color Doppler Ultrasonography applied to assess anatomic or hemodynamic blood flow parameters at the origin of internal mammary artery was proven a highly reliable method. Color Doppler Ultrasonography disclosed no side-differences, while there were no differences between scoliotics and controls. Thus, it seems that this study cannot justify previous theories for development of right thoracic scoliosis in female adolescents.
Korovessis
Panagiotis
P
Orthopaedic Department, General Hospital Agios Andreas Patras, Greece. korovess@otenet.gr
Iliopoulos
Panagiotis
P
Misiris
Alexandros
A
Koureas
Georgios
G
D000293:Adolescent; D001366:Axillary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001940:Breast / Q000098:blood supply / Q000254:growth & development; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014654:Vascular Patency