Acoustic streaming: a new technique for assessing adnexal cysts

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether acoustic streaming has clinical value in the differentiation between various ovarian and adnexal cysts. METHODS: We assessed 29 adnexal cysts, for which pathological diagnosis was available, for the presence of acoustic streaming during B-mode and color sonographic evaluation. RESULTS: Acoustic streaming was detected in 15 (52%) of the cysts. The most common cyst, endometrioma (n = 7), did not exhibit acoustic streaming in any case, while of the remaining 22 cysts, 15 exhibited acoustic streaming (P = 0.0017). Dermoid cysts exhibited acoustic streaming in two of six (33%) cases. In addition acoustic streaming was noted in two of two (100%) hemorrhagic cysts, eight of ten (80%) cystadenomas, two of three (67%) malignant cysts and in the one abscess. CONCLUSIONS: Acoustic streaming is the first sonographic feature that may be able to completely exclude endometrioma as a possible diagnosis for an adnexal cyst.