title: A novel Doppler spectral index for differentiating benign from malignant lung tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been reported that the resistance index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) are of limited value in differentiating lung cancers from benign lesions. We hypothesized that a vascular work index (VWI), derived from Doppler spectral waveforms, would yield better results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-one patients were enrolled, 20 of them having malignancies and 21 having benign lesions. The VWI was defined as the square of peak systolic velocity times the time-velocity integral. Maximal VWI, minimal RI, and minimal PI of each tumor were used for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly higher VWI values were found in malignant tumors compared with benign lesions (p < 0.0001). VWI was shown by analysis of the receiver operating characteristic curve to be a best predictor of lung malignancies than PI and RI (p < 0.05), with a 0.89 (95% confidence interval, 0.80-0.98) area under the receiver operating characteristic curve.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VWI may be a useful index to help differentiate malignant from benign lung tumors.
authors: Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Min-Sheng Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. docdocwu@gmail.com
authors: Tsung-Ju
authors: TJ
authors: Wu
authors: Judith Shu-Chu
authors: JS
authors: Shiao
authors: Jau-Yeong
authors: JY
authors: Lu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed