Role of Doppler ultrasound flowmetry in the diagnosis of breast lumps

One hundred and five patients with discrete breast lumps were examined with a 10 MHz Doppler ultrasonic flowmeter. Doppler flow signals were analysed on an Angioscan spectrum analyser. Recordings from the opposite normal breast were taken as controls and signals from the two sides compared. In 23 patients signals from the normal breast could not be recorded and therefore results of the remaining 82 patients are reported. These included 39 patients with carcinoma, 20 with fibroadenoma, 12 with cyclical nodularity and 11 with cysts. Malignant lumps exhibited significantly higher peak systolic (S) and minimum diastolic frequencies (D) in comparison to the control breast. Fibroadenoma also had a higher S and D than those of the opposite normal breast. Signals over cysts and cyclical nodularity showed no significant difference from the recordings over the control side. Despite significantly higher systolic and diastolic frequencies in the cancer group in comparison to benign lumps and normal breast, considerable overlap in the values was seen between cancer and other groups. Therefore the patterns on 10 MHz Doppler sonography are not sufficiently specific to discriminate benign from malignant breast lumps.