Doppler ultrasound imaging in the study of blood supply to choroidal melanoma

Samkovich E. V.
MD, Ophthalmologist, Junior Researcher¹
ORCID 0000-0002-5573-5712

Panova I. E.
Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Deputy Director for Research¹

1 - S. Fyodorov «Eye Microsurgery» Federal State Institution, St. Petersburg Branch, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Samkovich Elena; e-mail: e.samkovich@mail.ru

None declared.

The study had no sponsorship.

Nowadays, there is no doubt that the study of the features of the blood supply to the choroidal melanoma (CM) using doppler ultrasound imaging examinations is not only of diagnostic significance, but also determines the choice of therapeutic tactics and allows predicting the course of the tumor process. Purpose. To study the diagnostic capabilities of doppler ultrasound imaging examinations in assessing the blood supply to small and medium sized choroidal melanomas. Material and methods. 73 patients (73 eyes): 39 men and 34 women, average age 59.27 + 1.64 years. The mean tumor thickness was 2.71 ± 0.15, the average base diameter was 9.12 ± 0.132. All patients based on metric characteristics of tumors were split into 2 groups. Group I («small» CM) consisted of patients with tumor prominence from 0.6 mm to 3.0 mm (n = 42), Group II («medium» CM) from 3.1 to 5 mm (n = 31). All patients underwent ultrasound examination with an expert-grade ultrasound scanner PHILIPS Affinity 50 (Philips Ultrasound, USA) using a linear high-frequency broadband sensor L15-7io using the color Doppler mapping mode, during which the characteristics of intratumor blood flow were evaluated. Results. The method of ultrasound scan allowed to determine the intratumoral blood flow in 77% of cases, and the reliability of its identification was higher in the group of «medium» CM. It was found that about half (47%) of CM were represented by the hypervascular type of vascularization and significantly more often (68%) were found in the group of «medium» CM. The absence of signs of intrinsic vascularization was diagnosed in 17 of 42 patients (40%) only in the group of «small» CM. In the course of studying the frequency of identification of the number of feeding vessels, it was found that several feeding vessels (75%) were significantly more often detected in tumors and this type of blood supply was more characteristic for medium-sized of choroidal melanoma (p<0.05). Conclusion. In the study of the blood supply to choroidal melanoma, a significant role is given to doppler ultrasound imaging examinations, which allows non-invasive imaging with high degree of information and reliability to visualize intratumoral vessels and determine the nature of blood flow, mainly with medium-sized choroidal melanomas.

Choroidal melanoma, doppler ultrasound imaging examinations, ophthalmic oncology, hemodynamic of choroid melanoma, choroidal tumor`s

10.29234/2308-9113-2020-8-1-125-135

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