Subjective sonographic assessment for differentiation between malignant and benign adnexal masses.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of subjective sonographic assessment in distinguishing between benign and malignant adnexal masses. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study. METHODS: The patients scheduled for elective surgery due to adnexal masses were recruited into the study. All patients were sonographically examined within 72 hours of surgery were subjectively evaluated by the experienced sonographer, who had no any information of the patients, to differentiate between benign and malignant adnexal masses based on sonographic morphology. The final diagnoses, used as gold standard, were based on either pathological or operative findings. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-eight patients with 174 adnexal masses, (benign; 108 and malignant; 66) were recruited into the study. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were of 89.7%, 84.9 % and 92.6 %, 87.5% and 90.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Subjective evaluation of sonographic morphology has high accuracy in differentiating between benign and malignant adnexal masses.

Sonographic morphology scores (SMS) for differentiation between benign and malignant adnexal masses.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of a scoring system for distinguishing between benign and malignant adnexal masses and to detect threshold scores for prediction of malignant ovarian tumors. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional diagnostic testing. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University. SUBJECTS: A total 158 patients scheduled for elective surgery due to ovarian tumors at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between June 16, 2002 and August 8, 2004 were recruited into the study. METHODS: All patients were sonographically examed within 72 hours before surgery by the same sonographer to evaluate the morphology including wall structure, shadowing, septum, echogenicity and score the tumors. The final diagnosis was based on either pathological or operative findings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Sensitivity and specificity of the best cut-off score. RESULTS: A score of 5 from the receiver operating characteristic curve was found to be the best cut-off score, giving a sensitivity and a specificity of 85% and 70%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Sonographic morphology scores are useful in distinguishing adnexal malignancies from benign lesions in some selected cases.