1Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea. 2Department of Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea. 3Department of Radiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Korea.
Published online: March 1, 2002.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To compare the pre-and postenhanced power Doppler sonographic (PDS) findings in malignant and be-nign breast masses and to correlate between power Doppler area (PDA) and histologic microvessel density (MVD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-seven women with breast masses (27 malignant and 20 benign) underwent PDS be-fore and after an injection of microbubble contrast agent (Levovist (r) ) for five minutes. Using computer-assisted quantification, intratumoral % PDA was calculated. Microvessel density was counted on the digitized image of slides stained with anti CD 31 monoclonal antibody. The statistical analysis was performed using t-test to determine the difference of % PDA between malignant and benign masses and between <2 cm and > or = 2 cm in size. The correlation between % PDA and MVD was investigated by Pearson's correlation test. RESULTS: % PDA on preenhancement PDS did not show a statistically significant difference between malignant and benign breast masses (4.3% and 3.9%, p>0.3). On a 30-second post-enhancement PDS, the difference between malignant and benign masses in % PDA showed a statistical significance (28.3% and 11.0%, p<0.05), but the difference in size of masses was not statistically significant (p>0.05). MVD was well correlated with % PDA on post-enhancement PDS (r=0.69), and a stronger correlation was seen in malignant masses (r=0.71). CONCLUSION: Contrast-enhanced PDS is superior in demonstrating the difference of vascularity between malignant and benign breast masses. % PDA after contrast-enhancement exhibited a statistically significant correlation with histologic MVD.
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