[Differentiation of abdominal lymphadenoptahy with power Doppler sonography].
OBJECTIVE
Recent studies have reported high accuracy of power Doppler sonography (PDS) and color Doppler sonography (CDS) in the differentiation of benign and malignant peripheral superficial lymphadenopathy. This study was conducted to determine whether PDS can differentiate benign from malignant abdominal lymph nodes on the basis of defined vascular patterns.


METHODS
We retrospectively evaluated 88 color pictures of abdominal lymph nodes (39 benign lymph nodes, 24 malignant lymphomas, 25 lymph node metastasis) done in the power Doppler mode. The goal was to determine whether benign and malignant abdominal lymph nodes can be differentiated in power Doppler sonography on the basis of 9 defined vascular patterns.


RESULTS
Three vascular patterns showed a significantly (p < 0.05) higher appearance in malignant than in benign lymph nodes: aberrant vessel (specificity 87 %), avascular focus (specificity 92 %) and subcapsular vessel (specificity 100 %). The vascular pattern hiliar vessel showed a significantly higher appearance in benign lymph nodes (specificity 87.8 %).


CONCLUSIONS
Three vascular patterns are detectable in power Doppler mode (avascular focus, aberrant vessel, subcapsular vessel) in abdominal lymph nodes, which are typical for malignant abdominal lymphadenopathy. The presence of one of these vascular patterns means with a high specificity (87 - 100 %) that an abdominal lymphadenopathy is malignant. One vascular pattern (hiliar vessel) shows a significantly higher appearance in benign lymph nodes.
Neumann-Silkow
H
H
Innere Medizin, Phillips-Universität Marburg. neu-si@gmx.de
Görg
C
C
D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008199:Lymphadenitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009382:Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012016:Reference Values; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D055815:Young Adult