Diagnostic index of doppler sonography in ectopic pregnancy

Background: As delay in diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy is directly associated with increasing mortality, it studying the high sensitivity and specificity of transvaginal color doppler sonography as the most preferred imaging method with the most accurate and rapid diagnosis results seems to be necessary. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of transvaginal color doppler sonography in ectopic pregnancies.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy who had undergone surgery were enrolled in the study. Patients were evaluated by transvaginal color doppler sonography diagnosis; surgery was considered as the gold standard for diagnosis. Diagnostic test indicators were calculated and the ROC curve was plotted for quantitative indicators.

Results: The diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy doppler sonography had sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values equal to 97.1%, 94.3%, 94.4% and 97%, respectively. For ovarian mass cases the sensitivity was 100% but it was 85.7% in false positive cases. The sensitivity and specificity of Leash sign were calculated as 28.6% and 100% respectively. The difference between two RI values ​​higher than 0.095 was in favor of ectopic pregnancy; in that point the sensitivity and specificity were 60% and 82.8% respectively.

Conclusion: Transvaginal doppler sonography has high diagnostic value in diagnosis of ec-pic pregnancy. Using adnexal mass, which has a high sensitivity, and then studying a positive Leach sign, which has a high specificity, could be a very efficient diagnosis composition.