Conventional and Doppler ultrasound for the differentiation of benign and malignant canine mammary tumours.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of conventional and Doppler ultrasound for differentiation of benign and malignant mammary tumours in female dogs.

METHODS

Mammary tumours were evaluated from 60 animals and divided into two distinct groups, group 1 (benign tumours) and group 2 (malignant tumours). The tumours were assessed by conventional ultrasound, Doppler ultrasound mode, histopathology and immunohistochemical detection of vascular endothelial growth factor.

RESULTS

Conventional ultrasound examination was found to be ineffective in separating tumours into the two experimental groups. Similarly, using colour-flow Doppler ultrasound, no correlation was found between the presence of vascularisation and its characteristics between the two groups. Triplex Doppler ultrasound yielded average maximum velocities of 28·71 cm/s for malignant and 19·91 cm/s for benign tumours, which were significantly different (P=0·01). For vascular endothelial growth factor, an average score of 2·22 was found for group 2 and 1·66 for group 1 (P=0·03). Positive correlations were found between vascular endothelial growth factor and presence of vascularisation (P=0·04 and r=0·3658) and between vascular endothelial growth factor and maximum velocity (P=0·03 and r=0·3913).

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Doppler evaluation may be used to predict malignancy of mammary tumours in bitches.