Superb microvascular imaging for the detection of parenchymal perfusion in normal and undescended testes in young children

Objectives: To compare the detectability of perfusion difference between normal and undescended testes (UDT) in young children using conventional Power Doppler Imaging (PDI) and Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI). Methods: We prospectively performed testicular ultrasonography including PDI and SMI for the evaluation of microvascular flow in young children. Microvascular flow was categorized into four grades (grade 0-4). Statistical analysis was performed to compare the differences between undescended and normal testes. Results: We imaged 40 testes from 20 boys (age, 2-29 months). Testes sizes and volumes were similar between the 29 normal and 11 UDT. PDI demonstrated low grade flow in most normal (19/29) and UDT (11/11) without difference (P = 0.130). However, SMI detected differences in flow grades between normal and UDT (13 < 0.001). In univariate analysis, age (odds ratio [OR], 0.829; P = 0.012) and low grade flow on SMI (OR of grade 0, 51.886 with P < 0.001 and OR of grade 1, 14.29 with P = 0.017) were associated with UDT. These parameters were also significant in multivariate analysis with larger area under the curve, compared with the results using PDI (0.892 vs. 0.726, P=0.002). Conclusions: SMI can detect perfusion difference between normal and UDT in young children better than PDI. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.