Comparison of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging in evaluating ovarian tumor blood vessels

Background: our study was to evaluate the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (ceus) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ce-mri) in analyzing the blood vessels associated with ovarian tumors. materials and methods: a total of 100 patients with ovarian tumors underwent ceus and ce-mri before surgery. after surgery, the resected ovarian tissues were evaluated via immunohistochemistry to calculate the tumor microvessel density (mvd), and the correlation between the parameters of ceus and ce-mri and mvd in ovarian tumors was determined. results: the mvd level between ovarian tumors was significantly different (p = 0.03); the peak intensity (pi) and area under the curve (auc) of ceus parameters in malignant tumors were significantly higher than those in benign tumors (p = 0.03, p = 0.03); and were significantly positively correlated with mvd (r = 0.57, p = 0.00; r = 0.50, p = 0.00). the ktrans and ve of ce-mri parameters in malignant tumors were significantly higher than those in benign tumors (p = 0.01 and p = 0.04), and were also significantly positively correlated with mvd (r = 0.66, p = 0.00; r = 0.55, p = 0.00). moreover, there was no significant difference between ceus and ce-mri in terms of sensitivity (se), specificity (sp), negative predictive value (npv) and positive predictive value (ppv) in malignant ovarian tumors (p > 0.05). conclusion: both ceus and ce-mri parameters can reflect the mvd level in ovarian tumors; therefore, ceus is expected to become a viable alternative approach for evaluating ovarian tumors.