Role of ultrasound in characterization of ovarian masses

Saima Hafeez; Hafeez S; Sufian S; Saira Sufian; Beg M; Madiha Beg; Quratulain Hadi; Hadi Q; Yasir Jamil; Jamil Y; Masroor I; Imrana Masroor

doi:10.7314/apjcp.2013.14.1.603

Role of ultrasound in characterization of ovarian masses

Saima Hafeez, Hafeez S, Sufian S, Saira Sufian, Beg M, Madiha Beg, Quratulain Hadi, Hadi Q, Yasir Jamil, Jamil Y, Masroor I, Imrana Masroor

Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2013 · doi:10.7314/apjcp.2013.14.1.603 · PMID:23534803

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This study evaluated ultrasound's diagnostic performance for ovarian masses in Pakistan, finding 90.7% sensitivity and 91.4% specificity in characterizing malignant and benign lesions.

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This paper reviews how ultrasound is used to characterize ovarian masses, including high-level approaches such as gray-scale and Doppler (color and duplex) ultrasound and the use of scoring or logistic regression models to help differentiate benign from malignant adnexal tumors. It synthesizes evidence from studies evaluating diagnostic performance, including meta-analyses on ultrasound characterization and work on incremental value of additional imaging, with an acknowledged limitation that findings are context-dependent and affected by factors like examination expertise and the clinical/imaging subgroup being assessed. The paper also cites ultrasound-based differentiation of endometriomas from other ovarian cysts as part of the broader ultrasound characterization landscape. Relevance to endometriosis: multiple cited studies in the review address differentiating endometriomas from other ovarian cysts and describe the role of color Doppler in diagnosing endometriosis, though the review’s main focus is the overall role of ultrasound in characterizing ovarian masses (not endometriosis specifically).

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the second most common malignancy in Pakistani women, accounting for 4% of all cancers in the female population. The aim of this study was to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and 95% confidence intervals for ultrasound in characterization of ovarian masses in patients presenting at public and private tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We adopted a cross-sectional analytical study design to retrospectively collect data from January 2009-11 from medical records of two tertiary care hospitals. Using a non-probability purposive sampling technique, we recruited a sample of 86 women aged between 15 and 85 years fulfilling inclusion criteria with histopathologically proven ovarian masses presenting for an ultrasound examination in our radiology departments. RESULTS: Our retrospective data depicted sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound to be 90.7%, 95%CI (0.77, 0.97) and 91.4%, 95%CI (0.76, 0.98) respectively. Positive predictive value was 93%, 95%CI (0.79, 0.98) and negative predictive value was 89%, 95%CI (0.73, 0.96). A total of 78 ovarian masses were detected, out of which 42 were malignant and 36 were benign. CONCLUSIONS: Results of our study further reinforce the conclusion that ultrasound should be used as an initial modality of choice in the workup of every woman suspected of having an ovarian mass. It not only results in decreasing the mortality but also avoids unnecessary surgical interventions.

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Cited by - IOTA Simple Rules in Differentiating between Benign and Malignant Ovarian Tumors vol.15, pp.13, 2014, https://doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2014.15.13.5123 - Comparison of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte and Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratios for Predicting Malignant Potential of Suspicious Ovarian Masses in Gynecology Practice vol.15, pp.15, 2014, https://doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2014.15.15.6239 - IOTA Simple Rules in Differentiating between Benign and Malignant Adnexal Masses by Non-expert Examiners vol.16, pp.9, 2015, https://doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2015.16.9.3835 - Simple ultrasound examination as a diagnostic tool for malignant ovarian tumors vol.1073, pp.1742-6596, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1073/2/022017

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endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Abscess Carcinoma Endometriosis Ovarian Cysts Ovarian Neoplasms Abscess Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Carcinoma Carcinoma Confidence Intervals Cross-Sectional Studies Diagnosis, Differential Endometriosis Female Humans Middle Aged Ovarian Cysts

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