Pelvic examination, transvaginal ultrasound and transvaginal color Doppler sonography as predictors of ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE

To assess and compare the efficacy of pelvic examination, transvaginal ultrasound and transvaginal color Doppler imaging in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian tumors.

METHODS

34 patients with ovarian tumors scheduled for laparotomy underwent pelvic examination and a diagnosis of benign or malignant tumor was made. Transvaginal ultrasound was carried out to study the ovarian morphology followed by color Doppler imaging. A score of > or = 9 on Sassone scoring system or a pulsatility index < 1 was taken as suspicious for malignancy.

RESULTS

Of all the three indicators (pelvic examination, transvaginal sonography and Doppler) transvaginal sonography had the highest sensitivity (100%) and Doppler had maximum specificity (96.29%) for predicting malignancy. However, statistical analysis did not show any difference in the predicting ability of these three modalities.

CONCLUSION

Pelvic examination, transvaginal sonography and Doppler all had similar ability to predict malignancy in an adnexal mass.