Color Doppler ultrasonographic flow parameters in the differentiation of benign and malignant causes of omental thickening.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to determine if color Doppler ultrasonographic (US) quantitative flow parameters are valuable to differentiate malignant peritoneal or omental involvement from benign causes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty-six consecutive patients with peritoneal or omental thickening detected by gray scale US, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance underwent color Doppler US examinations. All the Doppler signal waveforms were recorded, and resistive (RI) and pulsatility indices (PI) were calculated automatically by the US machine. In the statistical analysis of RI and PI, unpaired t test was used. A P < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

Nineteen of 20 malignant and 5 of 6 benign lesions had detectable color Doppler US pulsatile flow signals. The mean RI and PI values were 0.6260 and 1.36, respectively, for the benign group and 0.5384 and 1.4147, respectively, for the malignant group. For malignant lesions, mean RI was lower (P = 0.0796), and mean PI was higher (P = 0.9183) than benign lesions. However, these differences were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Overlapping RI and PI values in benign and malignant omental lesions limit the clinical value of flow parameters in the differentiation of benign and malignant involvement of the omentum.