Colour Doppler ultrasound in the diagnosis of a solid breast mass

The colour Doppler signals in 35 patients with breast lumps (12 carcinomas, 23 benign lesions) were assessed subjectively. The number and location of vessels within the masses were recorded and compared with the histologic diagnosis and the lesion's size. All 12 malignancies were vascularized but only 12 23 benign lesions demonstrated vessels. All but one of the breast cancer displayed > 2 vessels compared to only 3 12 of the vascularised benign lesions. There was a relation between size of the lesion and the number of vessels observed. Colour Doppler proved more reliable in the differential diagnosis of breast masses when lesions less than 2 cm were considered.