Accuracy of Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE To determine the accuracy of Doppler ultrasound in the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma in patients presenting with post-menopausal bleeding while taking histopathological findings as the gold standard. METHODS The cross-sectional study was done at the Department of Radiology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, from April 1 to September 30, 2009, and comprised 128 patients above 50 years of age having history of post-menopausal bleeding and who were referred to the department. Name, age and hospital registration number were recorded on a proforma. Doppler ultrasound was performed and endometrial thickness and uterine artery resistive index were recorded on transabdominal ultrasonography. Patients with endometrial thickness of more than 5 mm and uterine artery resistive index of less than 0.7 were considered to be having endometrial carcinoma. Histopathology findings were also recorded using the hospital registration number of the patient. The findings of Doppler ultrasound scan were validated with the findings of histopathology. RESULTS Of the 128 patients, 48 (37.5%) were between the ages of 51 and 55 years; 46 (35.93%) were in the 56-60 age group; and 34 (26.57%) were over 65 years. On the basis of Doppler ultrasound findings, 106 (82.8%) patients were diagnosed as having endometrial carcinoma, while 22 (17.19%) were declared negative. Ultrasonography results were compared with histopathology findings. The percentages of true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative were calculated. There were 103 (80.47%) true positive; 12 (9.37%) false positive; 10 (7.81%) true negative; and 3 (2.35%) false negative. Specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were found to be 97.16%, 76%, 89.56% and 76.92% respectively. CONCLUSION The use of Doppler ultrasonography in non-invasive diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma in patients presenting with post-menopausal bleeding was quite useful with good sensitivity, specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values. There were no procedural complications.