Usefulness of Hemodynamically Distribution of Intranodal Vessels in Differentiating Metastatic Neck Lymph Nodes - Value of Color Doppler and Spectral Wave Sonogram.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic assessment of enlarged lymph nodes, based on its perfusion pattern by taking tissue diagnosis as gold standard.

STUDY DESIGN: Analytical study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Departments of Radiology and Pathology, PIMS Hospital, Islamabad, from February to May 2016.

METHODOLOGY: Color sonography of patients with clinically, palpable cervical lymph nodes were carried by senior trainee under the supervision of senior radiologist. Ultrasound guided tissue diagnosis was obtained in all suspected malignant cases. Histopathology was taken as the gold standard for determining accuracy.

RESULTS: Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values of color Doppler ultrasound in detecting malignant cervical lymphadenopathy was found to be 88.46%, 86.05%, 79.31% and 92.50%, respectively with diagnostic accuracy of 86.95%, when intranodal vascular pattern on color Doppler imaging was analyzed. Using spectral wave indexes, the same values were 92.31%, 90.70%, 85.71%, 95.12%, respectively with overall diagnostic accuracy of 91.30%.

CONCLUSION: Color Doppler sonography is much sensitive borderline than grey scale findings alone. Furthermore, lymph nodes appearing in the detection of malignant nodes on grey scale images can be reliably diagnosed on Doppler scan.