Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27433272›Full record

ArticleUltrasound (Leeds, England)2016

Sonographic imaging of extra-testicular focal lesions: comparison of grey-scale, colour Doppler and contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Vasileios Rafailidis, Hasti Robbie, Eleni Konstantatou, Dean Y Huang, Annamaria Deganello, Maria E Sellars, Vito Cantisani, Andrea M Isidori, Paul S Sidhu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Ultrasound (Leeds, England), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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  12. Tumor-like appearance of Spermatic Granuloma.International braz j urol : official journal of the Brazilian Society of Urology
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Vasileios RafailidisKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Hasti RobbieKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Eleni KonstantatouKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Dean Y HuangKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Annamaria DeganelloKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Maria E SellarsKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
Vito CantisaniDepartment of Radiology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
Andrea M IsidoriDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
Paul S SidhuKing's College London, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Extra-testicular lesions are usually benign but present with nonspecific grey-scale sonography findings. This study assesses conventional sonographic characteristics in the differentiation of extra-testicular tumoural from inflammatory lesions and whether contrast-enhanced ultrasound has a role. A retrospective database analysis was performed. All patients were examined by experienced sonographers employing standard techniques combining grey-scale, colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Features recorded were: clinical symptoms, size, location, echogenicity, colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound enhancement. Vascularity on colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound was graded and compared. The lesions were classified as tumoural or inflammatory. The Chi-square test was used to analyse the sonographic patterns and kappa coefficient to measure the agreement between colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound. A total of 30 lesions were reviewed (median diameter 12 mm, range 5-80 mm, median age 52 years, range 18-86 years), including 13/30 tumoural and 17/30 inflammatory lesions. Lesions were hypoechoic (n = 12), isoechoic (n = 6), hyperechoic (n = 2) or mixed (n = 10). Grey-scale characteristics of tumoural vs. inflammatory lesions differed significantly (P = 0.026). On colour Doppler sonography, lesions had no vessels (n = 16), 2-3 vessels (n = 10) and ≥4 vessels (n = 4). On contrast-enhanced ultrasound, lesions showed no vascularity (n = 17), perfusion similar to testis (n = 7) and higher (n = 6). All abscesses identified (n = 9) showed no vascularity on both colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound. There was good agreement between these techniques in evaluating vascularity (κ = 0.719) and no significant difference between colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound of tumoural vs. inflammatory lesions (P > 0.05). The grey-scale appearances of extra-testicular lesions are essential for characterisation. Colour Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings are not useful in that respect. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is excellent in establishing absence of vascularity.

Indexed as

contrastEpididymisinflammationtumourultrasound

Identifiers

PMID27433272
PMCPMC4760612

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.