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 greater than or equal to 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. (C) 1998 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.