title: [Clinical usefulness of B-flow imaging in the diagnosis of superficial soft tissue tumors].
abstract: B-flow imaging is a recently developed ultrasound technique that extends the B-mode imaging quality of blood flow, including high-frame-rate and high-spatial-resolution imaging. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the usefulness of B-flow for evaluation of the hemodynamics of superficial soft tissue tumors. All 33 cases of superficial soft tissue tumors were examined by both B-flow and Color/Power Doppler methods on the same plane. The B-flow images that were obtained were evaluated by comparison with corresponding Color/Power Doppler images. The following four items were compared and evaluated: (1) sensitivity to the detection of tumor vessels; (2) quality of background B-mode imaging; (3) frame rate; and (4) spatial resolution of tumor vessels. B-flow was somewhat inferior to Color/Power Doppler imaging in sensitivity to the detection of tumor vessels. B-flow was clearly inferior in the quality of background B-mode imaging. B-flow provided high-frame-rate imaging. The diameter of tumor vessels on B-flow imaging was clearly thinner than that on Color/Power Doppler images and appeared to indicate the true diameter of tumor vessels. By providing high-frame-rate imaging and high spatial resolution, B-flow makes it possible to clarify the precise vascular structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Jikei University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Kouichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naruo
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Takeo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sirakawa
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Kunihiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D006801:Humans; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color