Diagnostic efficacy of color Doppler ultrasound in evaluation of cervical lymphadenopathy

To evaluate the efficacy of color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) in differentiating benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes by detecting differences in blood flow patterns.
In this cross‑sectional prospective study, 25 untreated patients with clinical evidence of cervical lymphadenopathy were evaluated. CDUS was performed for 8 cervical lymph nodes. The gray scale parameters of the lymph node and intranodal perfusion sites were the key CDUS features used to differentiate between reactive and metastatic lymph nodes. Histopathological confirmations were obtained and compared with the results of CDUS.
Initially, 53 cervical lymph nodes were evaluated by clinical examination. Twenty‑seven additional lymph nodes (53 27 = 80) were discovered by CDUS evaluation. Gray scale parameters for lymph nodes such as size of lymph node, shape of lymph node, and presence or absence of hilum revealed highly significant results (P Within the limitations of this study, CDUS evaluation was found to be highly significant with a high sensitivity and specificity over clinical evaluation CDUS examination provides a prospect to reduce the need for biopsy/fine needle aspiration cytology in reactive nodes.